Based on the case law of the German Constitutional Court, this book offers a comprehensive analysis of the constitutionality of the special income tax treatment of individual financial investments. It concludes that at least in the light of recent developments in the field of automatic exchange of financial account information, the current preferential regime has become unconstitutional.

Since 2009 and as a general rule, income and capital gains that arise from individual financial investments are no longer included in the tax base of the progressive income tax. Instead, they are subject to proportional and relatively low taxation, usually by way of a final withholding tax. This reform did not mark a paradigm shift in the taxation of income towards a dual income tax of the Nordic type. Rather, it was primarily conceived as a pragmatic measure to boost taxpayer compliance and reverse the massive trend towards undeclared offshore investments at a time when strict bank secrecy was still widely accepted internationally. Based on the case law of the German Constitutional Court, this book offers a comprehensive analysis of the constitutionality of the special treatment of individual financial investments. It concludes that at least in the light of recent developments in the field of automatic exchange of financial account information, the German tax regime has become unconstitutional.

Autorentext
Studium der Rechtswissenschaften und der Betriebswirtschaftslehre an den Universitäten in Saarbrücken, Salamanca (Spanien) und Köln; 1998 Erste juristische Staatsprüfung; zunächst wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter, danach wissenschaftlicher Assistent am Institut für Steuerrecht der Universität zu Köln; 2004 Promotion; 2007 Habilitation; 2008 Inhaber des Lehrstuhls für Steuerrecht, Finanzrecht und Öffentliches Recht der Universität Augsburg; seit 2010 Inhaber des Lehrstuhls für Öffentliches Recht und Steuerrecht an der Universität Münster.