English Translation

18 - 3 - taxes would make up 1 billion kronor; a further failure of I Miiliarde kroner would occur in the adjustment of the VAT law. Unification of these financial income would bring more economic damage than benefits. An even more worrying situation would arise on the expenditure side of the public budget of the Protectorate, especially if, at once, the price level in general and thus the salary level of public employees and also the level of material budget expenditure should be increased. We are currently unable to express the extent of this influence in figures. Only it can be stated that under these circumstances it would not be possible to speak of the establishment of a balance in the state budget. Consequently, the national economy of the Protectorate would not only be burdened financially and monetaryly, but also socially politically by the rich. All these reasons speak against a rushed and integral customs clearance and are familiar to the German economists. If perhaps only political considerations should speak for a soon-to-be customs union, this unification would only be bought with enormous and disproportionate economic damage to both customs territories. It should also be noted from the constitutional point of view that the decree of the leader and Chancellor of the Reich of 16 March 1939 guarantees autonomy to the Protectorate. If, in the course of the unification of customs law, the right to tax on turnover and consumption were to be unified, the guaranteed autonomy of the Protectorates would also depend on these important questions.