Steuerobjekt und Objektsteuerprinzip im Gewerbesteuerrecht

Trade tax was historically conceived as a real tax or object tax and is still regularly referred to as such. It taxes the business enterprise as such and is intended to disregard the personal circumstances of the business owner. In the Constitution, the term ‘real tax’ was replaced in 1997, during a trade tax reform, with the phrase ‘real property tax and trade tax’. This study examines whether the principle of object taxation can be derived from the term ‘trade tax’, which now has constitutional status. At the same time, it sets out in detail the concept of a business that underlies trade tax law and what constitutes a commercial enterprise.