In 1850, Austria proposed an amalgamation of the three customs unions in Germany, that of the Austrian Empire, the Zollverein and the Steuerverein (the first two including territories beyond the German Confederation). However the tariff regimes of the three unions were quite different. The Austrian was hitherto a prohibitive tariff, whilst the Zollverein had a protective tariff and the Steuerverein a financial tariff (i.e. tax raising rather than protecting domestic industry). This scheme if realised would change the tariff of the Zollverein towards higher duties, rather than cause it to be assimilated to the lower tariff of the Steuerverein. Thus the proposal was received with little favour in the Steuerverein, especially the government and press of Hanover.
