Die abgabenrechtliche Lenkung (English shop)

Unerwünscht im „Steuerstaat“?

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This study examines the relationship between tax law and substantive law as well as the constitutional limits of regulatory taxation. Its central question is whether the Basic Law contains a binding principle of the tax state, according to which the financing of state functions must, as a rule, be effected through taxes.

The analysis concludes that the principle of the tax state is to be recognised only as a constitutional guiding idea, not as a normative principle. Non-tax levies and regulatory tax provisions are therefore, in principle, equally permissible. Their constitutional legitimacy is determined by the general standards of fundamental rights, in particular by Art. 3 (1) of the Basic Law. On the basis of these criteria, the CO₂ levy under the BEHG (Fuel Emissions Trading Act), among others, is assessed as constitutional during its introductory phase and within the envisaged price corridor.

The approach thus affords the legislature a broad, yet at the same time fundamental-rights-limited, scope for shaping tax-based and non-tax-based regulatory instruments.