of February 1920 established works councils at workplaces with 20 or more on the payroll as a means of improving lines of communication between labour and management. In addition, a series of progressive tax reforms were implemented under the auspices of finance minister Matthias Erzberger, such as the Reich Revenue Law of July 1919, which gave the Reich sole authority for levying and administering taxes, the levying of war taxes on income and wealth as well as inheritance taxation in July 1919, and a one-off wealth tax in December 1919. In March 1920, the Kapp-Lüttwitz Putsch attempted to depose the government. Bauer, along with other SPD members of the cabinet and president Ebert, signed a call for a general strike against the putsch. Most of the cabinet left Berlin for Dresden, then Stuttgart. However, some ministers remained in the capital and, led by vice-chancellor Eugen Schiffer negotiated with the putschists. Once the putsch had collapsed, the Bauer government was forced to resign on 27 March—mostly as a result of the negotiations conducted with Kapp and his fellow conspirators. Bauer was succeeded as chancellor by Hermann Müller (also SPD). However, Bauer joined the new cabinet as Minister of the Treasury, a position he held until June 1920. From May to June 1920, Bauer was also Minister of Transportation. In the Reichstag elections of June 1920, he was reelected to parliament. However, the new government formed on 25 June excluded the SPD. Bauer rejoined the cabinet of Joseph Wirth in May 1921 as Minister of the Treasury and vice-chancellor. He held those positions throughout the term of office of Wirth (until November 1922). Throughout this time, Bauer was also a member of the Reichstag for Magdeburg and he retained his seat after leaving the government. However, in November 1924 he became involved in the Barmat scandal due to a personal relationship with the accused, Julius Barmat. On 7 February 1925, he was forced by the SPD parliamentary group to relinquish his seat in the Reichstag and on 14 February was expelled from the party. Yet on 14 May 1926, Bauer's expulsion was overturned by the party. He returned to the Reichstag until 1928, when he left parliament and retired from public life. Later life After the Nazi party took power in 1933, Bauer was arrested on 29 June 1933. He was supposed to have misappropriated public funds. However, the charge was based