Person im Ertragsteuerrecht

The legal person is a concept which has been subject to theoretical debate for centuries. According to the German Federal Constitutional Court, this term justifies the German dualism of opacity and transparent taxation, although its legal content is still being questioned today. Ulrich Palm analyzes the legal subject and deconstructs the legal person. He also examines the status of human beings as persons within the law, basing this on developments in the history of ideas. Using this, he develops an answer to the question of who is qualified as a subject within the meaning of the constitutional ability-to-pay principle. He concludes his critique with an appeal to free the law from the topos of the legal person and to abandon the dualism of opacity and transparent taxation.