The Significance of Fundamental Human Rights for German Tax Law

Abstract

The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Germany referred to as the Fundamental Law contains the catalogue of basic human rights. The rights specified in this catalogue of law is considered as immediate directly applicable law and is binding for all government institutions, in particular its legislative branch. Fundamental rights directly concern tax legislation with a special influence on legal and economic life of society. The specifics of this branch of law is reflected in the opinions of the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany showing the necessity of strict correspondence of tax legislation fixed in the Constitution by fundamental law. A special focus is given to the fixed in the constitution right to equality (the principle of charging taxes in proportion to the economic solvency, the principle of objective and subjective net taxation) and other fundamental rights (protection of the right of property, protection of family and marriage). Besides, the laws including the norms of tax law should meet the requirements resulting from the principle of rule of law state specified in the Fundamental Law. These requirements include in particular the obligatory procedure of parliamentary approval of tax laws and a proper level of legal certainty of a law to be approved and the ban on the retroactive effect on tax laws. The paper outlines the German tax law and its sources as well as the system of tax bodies in Germany, classifies taxes by the object of taxation. Then on the basis of analyzing practice of the German Federal Constitutional Court, Superior Financial Court and courts of general jurisdiction, the paper reveals the relevance of the major laws and the principle of rule of law state for German tax law concerning natural person taxation.