Wealth tax

“Capital tax” redirects here. For taxes on investmentincome, see capital gains tax.

A wealth tax (also called a capital tax, equity tax, ornet worth tax) is a levy on the total value of personalassets, including owner-occupied housing; cash, bank de-posits, money funds, and savings in insurance and pensionplans; investment in real estate and unincorporated busi-nesses; and corporate stock, financial securities, and per-sonal trusts.[1] Typically liabilities (primarily mortgagesand other loans) are deducted, hence sometimes called anet wealth tax.A wealth tax taxes the accumulated stock of purchasingpower, in contrast to income tax, which is a tax on theflow of assets (a change in stock).

1 In practice

Some jurisdictions require declaration of the tax payer’sbalance sheet (assets and liabilities), and from that askfor a tax on net worth (assets minus liabilities), as a per-centage of the net worth, or a percentage of the net worthexceeding a certain level. Wealth taxes can be limited tonatural persons or they can be extended to also cover legalpersons such as corporations.

1.1 Current examples

• France: There is a solidarity tax on wealth onany net assets above €800,000, if your total networth is €1,300,000 or more. Marginal rates rangefrom 0.5% to 1.5%.[2] In 2007, it collected €4.07billion, accounting for 1.4% of total revenue.[3]

• Spain: There is a tax calledPatrimonio. The taxrate is progressive, from 0.2 to 3.75% of net assetsabove the threshold of €700,000 after €300,000primary residence allowance.[4] The exact amountvaries between provinces.

• India: Wealth tax is 1% on net wealth ex-ceeding 1 Crores (Rs 1,00,00,000). However, non-residents returning to India are exempt for sevenyears.[5] In February 2015, abolition of the tax fromFY15-16 was announced in the Union Budget.[6]

• Netherlands: Interest income is taxed like awealth tax, i.e. a fixed 30% out of an assumed yield

of 4% is a rate of 1.2%. The tax is imposed on as-sets in excess of €21,139 (2012). See Income taxin the Netherlands.

• Norway: 0.7% (municipal) and 0.3% (na-tional) a total of 1.0% levied on net assets exceed-ing 1,000,000 kr as of 2014.[7] For tax purposes, thevalue of real estate assets are estimated to approx-imately 50% of the market value (25% if it is thetaxpayer’s primary residence).[8] The Conservativeand Progress parties in the current government andthe Liberal Party have stated that they aim to reduceand eventually eliminate the wealth tax.[9]

• Switzerland: A progressive wealth tax between0.13% and 0.94% may be levied on net assets.[10]The exact amount varies between cantons.

1.2 Historical examples

Iceland had a wealth tax until 2006 and a temporarywealth tax reintroduced in 2010, for four years. A rateof 1.5% on net assets exceeding 75,000,000 kr for indi-viduals and 100,000,000 kr for married couples.Some other European countries have discontinued thiskind of tax in the recent years: Austria, Denmark (1995),Germany (1997), Finland (2006), Luxembourg (2006)and Sweden (2007). In the United Kingdom, property(real estate) is often a person’s main asset, and has beentaxed - for example the window tax of 1696, the rates,to some extent the Council Tax, and a new Mansion Taxproposed by some political parties.

2 Rationale

There are many lines of argument in favor of including atax based on individual net wealth. Variations in how thedetails of the particular net wealth tax is implemented, in-cluding whether there are exemptions and whether othertaxes are lowered or flattened will have an impact.

2.1 Concentration of wealth

Main article: Wealth concentration

In 2014, French economist Thomas Piketty published abook entitled Capital In The Twenty-First Century that

1

2 2 RATIONALE

posits the theory that economic inequality was worsen-ing and proposes wealth taxes as a solution. The cen-tral thesis of the book is that inequality is not an acci-dent, but rather a feature of capitalism, and can only bereversed through state interventionism. The book thusargues that unless capitalism is reformed, the very demo-cratic order will be threatened. At the core of this thesisis the notion that when the rate of return on capital (r) isgreater than the rate of economic growth (g) over the longterm, the result is concentration of wealth, and this un-equal distribution of wealth causes social and economicinstability. Piketty proposes a global system of progres-sive wealth taxes to help reduce inequality and avoid thevast majority of wealth coming under the control of atiny minority. This analysis was hailed as a major andimportant work by some economists. Piketty’s work isnot without its critics, however. Other economists havechallenged key aspects of Piketty’s proposals and inter-pretations, stating that they are often inconsistent and/orflawed.[11][12][13][14][15][16]

2.2 Fairness

According to the “beneficiary pay” criterion of tax fair-ness, a tax on property rights can be seen as a use fee.Specifically, protection of property rights is a primarypurpose of government. Holders of property rights enjoythe existence of government more than those who hold noproperty rights do and thus Capital In The Twenty-FirstCentury argues that those who benefit the most “owe themost back to the society that permits the capitalist systemto exist.” This is also true of ownership interests or stock.

2.3 Revenue

In 1999, Donald Trump proposed for the United States aone off 14.25% wealth tax on the net worth of individualsand trusts worth $10million ormore. Trump claimed thatthis would generate $5.7 trillion in new taxes, which couldbe used to eliminate the national debt.[17] A net wealth taxmay also be designed to be revenue neutral as where it isused to broaden the tax base, stabilize the economy andreduce individual income and other taxes.

2.4 Economic growth

A wealth tax that decreases other tax burdens, such as in-come, capital gains, sales, value added and inheritance,increases the time horizon for investment and can in-crease the return on investments over that time. Theincreased time horizon of investment results from thecompetition for investment between the risk-free assetof modern portfolio theory, and commercial assets. Thehigher return on investment results from the removal oftaxes on profits.

2.5 Investment

A wealth tax serves as a negative reinforcer (“use it orlose it”), which coerces the productive use of assets. Ac-cording to University of Pennsylvania Law School Pro-fessors David Shakow and Reed Shuldiner, “A wealthtax also taxes capital that is not productively employed.Thus, a wealth tax can be viewed as a tax on potential in-come from capital.”[18] Because a net wealth tax can bethe equivalent of an annual tax on imputed income, thecapital gains, estate and gift taxes are not necessary.

2.6 Job creation and Social Security re-form

In the United States a wealth tax of 2% could replacethe 15% payroll taxes and enable business to have moremoney to hire workers and increase employee consumerspending. Millions of jobs would be created with no gov-ernment spending.[19] Using a wealth tax to fund SocialSecurity and Medicare would also eliminate any shortterm need to reduce benefits.

2.7 Housing and consumer debt

A net wealth tax permits an offset for the full principal ofany mortgage, student loan, automobile loan, consumerloan, etc. Thus, even with tax reform that eliminates in-come tax deductions for interest, taxpayers may be betteroff with a full credit for the amount of the debt for thenet wealth computation. In the United States, for exam-ple, the net wealth tax offset for debt would be particu-larly helpful to restore a healthy housing market and helpcollege graduates with unpaid student loans.

2.8 Social effects

By unburdening the poor and middle class of taxation,while stimulating investment in commercial assets thatcreate demand for labor, more financial resources in thehands of the poor and middle class would reduce theirreliance on government delivery of social goods, suchas improved educational opportunities for their children.That would promote social mobility, mean more citizensreach their full potential of productivity, thus improv-ing the economy. Increased government revenue from awealth tax could be used to promote public investment inservices like education, basic science research, and trans-portation infrastructure, which in turn improve economicefficiency. Increased government revenue from a wealthtax coupled with restrained government spending wouldreduce government borrowing and so free more credit forthe private sector to promote business. A strong, steadilygrowing economy could in turn increase tax revenues fur-ther, allowing for more deficit reduction, and so on in avirtuous cycle.[20]

3.4 Disproportionate effect on seniors 3

3 Disadvantages

There are many arguments against the implementation ofa wealth tax; including significant legal hurdles, likelynegative economic results, issues with implementation,regulation, and cost, as well as adverse societal and cul-tural impacts.

3.1 Capital flight

A 2006 article in TheWashington Post titled “OldMoney,NewMoney Flee France and Its Wealth Tax” pointed outsome of the harm caused by France’s wealth tax. The ar-ticle gave examples of how the tax caused capital flight,brain drain, loss of jobs, and, ultimately, a net loss in taxrevenue. Among other things, the article stated, "ÉricPichet, author of a French tax guide, estimates the wealthtax earns the government about $2.6 billion a year buthas cost the country more than $125 billion in capitalflight since 1998.”[21][22] The concern about capital flightis lessened where a country such as the United States hasworldwide tax jurisdiction and assets may be taxed wher-ever they are located.

3.2 Economic effects

Wealth taxes have the net effect of pulling assets out ofthe free market economy, and could create recessionaryeffects, including job loss. A 2012 article by Forbesmag-azine, “A tax on wealth certainly has a negative impacton capital formation. Many family-owned businessesthat are marginally profitable would find this tax to be atremendous burden on their shareholders. While the taxmay be imposed on the business owners, in many casesthe only source for payment of the tax would be to takefunds from (or liquidate) the business. This is why manytax policy analysts have said that a wealth tax could re-sult in a recession by inhibiting capital formation and jobcreation.”[23]

For individuals, depending on the rate of the proposedwealth tax, impacts on stock and bond asset values couldalso be sufficient to create larger-scale economic impacts.The two largest areas of personal investment are personalhousing and pension plans. Thus, the first source to betapped for tax liquidity would be pension plans and finan-cial investments. If the taxes were progressive enough,there may a recessionary effect on the economy as stockand bond assets are liquidated each year to pay ongoingwealth taxes.[24]

3.3 Valuation issues

In 2012, the Wall Street Journal wrote that: “the wealthtax has a fatal flaw: valuation. It has been estimated that62% of the wealth of the top 1% is “non-financial” –

i.e., vehicles, boats, real estate, and (most importantly)private business. Private businesses account for nearly40% of their wealth and are the largest single category.”A particular issue for small business owners is that theycannot accurately value their private business until it issold. Furthermore, business owners could easily maketheir businesses look much less valuable that they re-ally are, through accounting, valuations and assumptionsabout the future. “Even the rich don’t know what exactlywhat they’re worth in any given moment.”[25]

More difficult questions arise as to the equitable valua-tion of homes and real estate by geographic area, wherevalues per square foot of home and per acre of land canvary by more than 400 percent in the United States. Inaddition, critics claim that the inherent difficulty of eval-uating personal property would create a labyrinth of bu-reaucracy and potential for fraud, and perhaps the emer-gence of a class of tax-exempt and special-considerationassets that would only further cloud and burden an alreadyoverwhelmed tax system. Analysts predict that the pro-cess of appraisal of personal property, with some itemsappreciating and others depreciating, would be onerousand the costs of dispute resolution with the IRS wouldskyrocket.[26] Examples of such fraud and malfeasancewere revealed in 2013, when French budget ministerJerome Cahuzac was discovered shifting financial assetsinto Swiss bank accounts in order to avoid the wealth tax.After further investigation, a French finance ministry of-ficial said, “A number of government officials minimisedtheir wealth, by negligence or with intent, but without ex-ceeding 5-10 per cent of their real worth ... however,there are some who have deliberately tried to deceive theauthorities.”[27] Yet again, in October 2014, France’s Fi-nance Chairman and President of the National Assem-bly, Gilles Carrez, was found to have avoided paying theFrench wealth tax (ISF) for three years by applying a 30percent tax allowance on one of his homes. However, hehad previously converted the home into an SCI, a pri-vate, limited company to be used for rental purposes.The 30 percent allowance does not apply to SCI hold-ings. Once this was revealed, Carrez declared, “if thetax authorities think that I should pay the wealth tax, Iwon't argue.” Carrez is one of more than 60 French par-liamentarians battling with the tax offices over 'dodgy' as-set declarations.[28]

3.4 Disproportionate effect on seniors

A 2013 Forbes article addressed the issue of wealth taxesupon seniors, “The acquisition of wealth is a function ofthe ‘life cycle’ – our usual point of maximum wealth inour lifetime is just as we retire: we’ve paid off the mort-gage and have housing equity, our pension plan is as fullas it’s ever going to be.”[24] Thus, for the largest segmentof people subject to the wealth tax, it means taxing theaccumulated savings and houses of those on the verge ofretiring. Wealth taxes would impact their pension plans,

4 4 LEGAL IMPEDIMENTS

401K, IRA, and other deferred and retirement-related ac-counts ... as well as the accumulated value of their real es-tate. In addition, there may be the possibility that the taxvalue of life insurance policies and charitable remaindertrusts could be included in these wealth calculations.[29]Wealth taxes would havemaximum impact just as retireesare shifting and adjusting to fixed-income living. Othershave pointed out that a progressive wealth tax would onlyaffect those with a net worth in excess of ten million dol-lars, thus making it less important at what stage of thetaxpayer’s life the obligation was incurred.[30][31]

3.5 Social effects: envy, work ethic, incen-tives, and property rights

Opponents of wealth taxes have complained that muchof the motivation to institute wealth taxes is based inan 'undercurrent' of envy and antipathy.[30][31] Two YaleUniversity/London School of Economics studies (2006,2008) on relative income yielded results asserting that 50percent of the public would prefer to earn less money,as long as they earned as much or more than theirneighbor.[32][33] These results lend credence to the theorythat a prime motivator for support of a wealth tax is noteconomic improvement in absolute wealth for recipients.Many analysts and scholars assert that since wealth taxesare a form of direct asset collection, as well as double-taxation, they are antithetical to personal freedom and in-dividual liberty. They further contend that free nationsshould have no business helping themselves arbitrarily tothe personal belongings of any group of its citizens.[34]Wealth taxes place the authority of the government aheadof the rights of the individual, and ultimately underminethe concept of personal sovereignty. The Daily Telegrapheditor Allister Heath critically described wealth taxes asMarxian in concept and ethically destructive to the valuesof democracies, “Taxing already acquired property dras-tically alters the relationship between citizen and state:we become leaseholders, rather than freeholders, with ac-cumulated taxes over long periods of time eventually “re-turning” our wealth to the state. It breaches a key prin-ciple that has made this country great: the gradual ex-pansion of property ownership and the democratisationof wealth.”[35]

3.6 Past failures

In 2004, a study by the Institut de l'enterprise investigatedwhy several European countries were eliminating wealthtaxes and made the following observations: 1. Wealthtaxes contributed to capital drain, promoting the flightof capital as well as discouraging investors from comingin. 2. Wealth taxes had high management cost and rel-atively low returns. 3. Wealth taxes distorted resourceallocation, particularly involving certain exemptions andunequal valuation of assets. In its summary, the institute

found that the “wealth taxes were not as equitable as theyappeared”.[36]

In a 2011 study, the London School of Economics ex-amined wealth taxes that were being considered by theLabour party in the United Kingdom between 1974 and1976 but were ultimately abandoned. The findings ofthe study revealed that the British evaluated similar pro-grams in other countries and determined that the Span-ish wealth tax may have contributed to a banking crisisand the French wealth tax had been undergoing reviewby its government for being unpopular and overly com-plex. Furthermore, there were serious internal debatesat the time between moderate Socialists and more leftistMarxist politicians as to the degree of public ownershipof means of production. As efforts progressed, concernswere developing over the practicality and implementationof wealth taxes as well as worry that they would under-mine confidence in the British economy. Eventually planswere dropped. Former British Chancellor Denis Healeyconcluded that attempting to implement wealth taxes wasa mistake, “We had committed ourselves to aWealth Tax:but in five years I found it impossible to draft one whichwould yield enough revenue to be worth the administra-tive cost and political hassle.” The conclusion of the studystated that there were lingering questions, such as the im-pacts on personal saving and small business investment,consequences of capital flight, complexity of implemen-tation, and ability to raise predicted revenues that mustbe adequately addressed before further consideration ofwealth taxes.[37]

4 Legal impediments

4.1 Germany

The Federal Constitutional Court of Germany in Karl-sruhe found that wealth taxes “would need to be confis-catory in order to bring about any real redistribution” Inaddition, the court held that the sum of wealth tax andincome tax should not be greater than half of a taxpayer’sincome. “The tax thus gives rise to a dilemma: either itis ineffective in fighting inequalities, or it is confiscatory– and it is for that reason that the Germans chose to elim-inate it.” Thus finding such wealth taxes unconstitutionalin 1995.[38]

4.2 United States

In the United States, depending upon how Article 1, Sec-tions 2 and 9 of the United States Constitution would beinterpreted, the implementation of a wealth tax not ap-portioned by the populations of the States would requirea Constitutional amendment in order to be passed intolaw. The United States Constitution prohibits any fed-eral direct tax on asset holdings (as opposed to income

5

tax or capital gains tax) unless the revenue collectedis apportioned among the states on the basis of theirpopulation.[39][40][41] Although a federal wealth tax is pro-hibited unless the receipts are collected from the States bytheir populations, state and local government property taxamount to a wealth tax on real estate.[42] There is suffi-cient question about its Constitutionality that the issue isdebatable.[43]

5 See also• Ad valorem tax

• Capital in the Twenty-First Century

• Economic inequality#Environment; addressing hu-man overpopulation having similar effects to de-crease wealth gap

• Endowment tax

• Inheritance tax

• Land value tax

• Progressive tax

• Property tax

• Redistribution of income and wealth

• Tax exporting

• Wealth concentration

• World taxation system

6 References[1] Edward N. Wolff, “Time for a Wealth Tax?", Boston Re-

view, Feb-Mar 1996 (recommending a net wealth tax forthe US of 0.05% for the first $100,000 in assets to 0.3%for assets over $1,000,000

[2] “Worldwide personal tax guide 2013–2014: France”(PDF). HSBC. 1 July 2013. Retrieved 11 December2014.

[3] French wealth tax explained in full in The Connexion

[4] Spanish Wealth Tax (Patrimonio)

[5] http://law.incometaxindia.gov.in/DIT/other-income-tax-acts.aspx?page=ODTA&TabId=tab_WTA

[6] “Budget 2015: Wealth tax abolished; applicability ofGAAR deferred by two years”. The Economic Times. 28February 2015. Retrieved 28 February 2015.

[7]

[8] “3.1 Endringer i formuesskatten” (in Norwegian). De-partment of Finance. Retrieved 19 March 2014.

[9] NTB (13 February 2014). “Politisk flertall for å fjerneformuesskatten” (in Norwegian). Dagens Næringsliv. Re-trieved 19 March 2014.

[10] Switzerland Wealth Tax, Lowtax.net

[11] Thomas Piketty Is Wrong: America Will Never LookLike a Jane Austen Novel, New Republic, 2014

[12] Thomas Piketty’s Wealth Illusion, Barrons, August 5,2014

[13] Yet Another Reason Wht Thomas Piketty' Is Wrong,Forbes, June 5, 2014

[14] What Piketty Gets Wrong About Capitalism, Reason,May 23, 2014

[15] Thomas Piketty’s Wrong Conclusions on Rising U.S. In-come Inequality, U.S. News & World Report, June 5,2014

[16] Inequality A Piketty problem?, Economist, May 24, 2014

[17] “Trump proposes massive onetime tax on the rich” CNN,November 9, 1999

[18] Shakow, David and Shuldiner, Reed, Symposium onWealth Taxes Part II, New York University School of LawTax LawReview, 53 Tax L. Rev. 499, 506 Summer, 2000

[19] Mulligan, Casey B., “How Payroll Tax Cuts Can CreateJobs”, New York Times, 14 September 2011

[20] Fair Share Taxes Essay, 2010

[21] Washington Post. Old Money, New Money Flee Franceand Its Wealth Tax, 16 July 2006

[22] “The EconomicConsequences of the FrenchWealth Tax”,papers.ssrn.com, 05/04/07

[23] What A Wealth tax and Lindsay lohan Have In Common,Forbes, November 20, 2012

[24] Why The IMF Wealth Tax Simply Will Not Work,Forbes, October 23, 2013

[25] The Problem with a Wealth tax, Wall Street Journal Jan-uary 11, 2012

[26] What A Wealth Tax and Lindsay Lohan Have In Com-mon, Forbes November 20, 2012

[27] Chazan, David (October 22, 2014). “French MPs faceinvestigation over tax scandal”. The Telegraph.

[28] France Medias Monde. “France’s Finance Chairman fac-ing tax nightmare”. RFI News (National French Radio).

[29] The Coming Global Wealth Tax, National Liberty Feder-ation, December 4, 2013

[30] An Immodest Proposal: A Global Tax on the Super Rich,Businessweek, October 23, 2013

[31] The Limits of TaxReformAmid Envy, Forbes, November6, 2011

[32] Does Envy Destroy Social Fundamentals? The Impact ofRelative Income Position on Social Capital, 2006

6 6 REFERENCES

[33] Social Capital and Relative Income Concerns: Evidencefrom 26 Countries, 2008

[34] Umfairteilung, Economist, 8 September 2012

[35] A wealth tax would be ethically wrong and economicallydestructive, July 28, 2014

[36] Wealth Tax in Europe: Why The Decline? Institut del'enterprise, June 2004

[37] Whywas a wealth tax for the UK abandoned?: Lessons forthe policy process and tackling wealth inequality, LondonSchool of Economics, 2011

[38] Economist. Umfairteilung, Economist, 8 September 2012

[39] See, for example, the United States Supreme Court caseof Fernandez v. Wiener, in which the Court stated thata direct tax is a tax “which falls upon the owner merelybecause he is owner, regardless of his use or dispositionof the property.” Fernandez v. Wiener, 326 U.S. 340, 66S. Ct. 178, 45-2 U.S. Tax Cas. (CCH) ¶10,239 (1945).

[40] Jensen, Erik M. (2004) “Interpreting the SixteenthAmendment (By Way of the Direct-Tax Clauses)" 21Const. Comment. 355

[41] Isaacs, Barry L. (1977-8) “Do We Want a Wealth Tax inAmerica?" 32 U. Miami L. Rev. 23

[42] Yglesias, Matthew (March 6, 2013). “America Does TaxWealth, Just Not Very Intelligently”. Slate. Retrieved 18March 2013.

[43] National Review. The Constitutional Fiasco of a WealthTax, 19 November 2012

7

7 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

7.1 Text• Wealth tax Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wealth_tax?oldid=676009420 Contributors: Wesley, B4hand, Edward, Rl, Jake Nelson,Mark Blackburn, David Koller, Bfinn, Masken, Jabowery, Ben Arnold, Gdm, Beland, Sam Hocevar, Anirvan, Neutrality, Rich Farm-brough, Jerryseinfeld, Guy Harris, John Quiggin, DreamGuy, Dan100, Jghaines, Josh Parris, Sjakkalle, Toi, WouterBot, YurikBot, Russ-Bot, Bovineone, Morphh, Pegship, Intershark, SmackBot, Tarret, Lawrencekhoo, Chris the speller, JzG, Breno, TastyPoutine, Turkguy,AdjustablePliers, Joseph Solis in Australia, Boreas74, Blehfu, Peter1c, CRGreathouse, CmdrObot, Pmyteh, SteveMcCluskey, Thijs!bot,Z10x, MyPOV, Nick Number, Mmortal03, Fedayee, NByz, LeedsKing, RubyQ, Magioladitis, Mikhailfranco, Roy Langston, Bibliophylax,Christian424, Jeepday, JayJasper, Matthardingu, Redtigerxyz, Philaweb, Anylayman, FinnWiki, SieBot, Grundle2600, ClueBot, Auntof6,Megiddo1013, TaalVerbeteraar, MystBot, Addbot, Tharyps the Molossian, Download, Lightbot, Zorrobot, Legobot, Luckas-bot, Darx9url,AnomieBOT, Altgeld, Carolina wren, MauritsBot, Xqbot, Caceo, Howsa12, FrescoBot, Varmapak, Sweet Million, LilyKitty, Stalwart111,Conorbrady.ie, EmausBot, John of Reading, Dewritech, Imagerock123, ZéroBot, Mindful123, Tallenuk, Adrianw61, Neil P. Quinn,Artnesten, Guest2625, BG19bot, Steinarbe, Cifart, Majorbolz, Nasmith1234, Dingopromotheus, Mwren1, Cupco, EugenePatrickDevany,Rubyjac, Vanamonde93, Ildottoreverde, Globalcooling400, EllenCT, Comp.arch, Tolinjr, Colonycat, Plokmijnuhbygvtfcdxeszwaq, High-fever2015, KasparBot and Anonymous: 111

7.2 Images• File:Ambox_globe_content.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bd/Ambox_globe_content.svg License:Public domain Contributors: Own work, using File:Information icon3.svg and File:Earth clip art.svg Original artist: penubag

• File:Flag_of_France.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c3/Flag_of_France.svg License: PD Contributors: ? Orig-inal artist: ?

• File:Flag_of_India.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/41/Flag_of_India.svg License: Public domain Contributors:? Original artist: ?

• File:Flag_of_Norway.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d9/Flag_of_Norway.svg License: Public domainContributors: Own work Original artist: Dbenbenn

• File:Flag_of_Spain.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/9a/Flag_of_Spain.svg License: PD Contributors: ? Originalartist: ?

• File:Flag_of_Switzerland.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f3/Flag_of_Switzerland.svg License: Publicdomain Contributors: PDF Colors Construction sheet Original artist: User:Marc Mongenet

Credits:• File:Flag_of_the_Netherlands.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/20/Flag_of_the_Netherlands.svg Li-cense: Public domain Contributors: Own work Original artist: Zscout370

7.3 Content license• Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0