THE LEVY IN OTHER COUNTRIES There have been no first-class experiments abroad illustrating all the features of the levy as proposed for the United Kingdom. In 1920 in Czechoslovakia a levy was introduced which was to bring in £63,000,000 or about £5 per head of the population, with a low limit of exemption, i.e., crowns free, 1% on the first 25,00o crowns, and then on a progressive scale up to 3o% on amounts over 10,000,00o crowns. The actual yield was £17, 000,000 in the first two years, and the instalment system which was allowed gave it, as a matter of fact, the character of a heavy income tax. The results have been regarded as disappointing, and the consequent arrears in income tax are heavy.
In Switzerland in 1922 the Socialist Party proposed a levy with the idea of devoting the proceeds mainly to social purposes. On a referendum the proposal was rejected in every canton, but while it was under discussion the effects upon financial conditions were very obvious.