“The Antisocial Stigma Around Derivatives: A Call for Fair Treatment and Clarity on Taxation”

Man likes to think what you want of derivatives, which investors can use to speculate on credit. One may begrudge them this if they are successful. And they may be reviled when the speculation goes wrong and they lose a lot of money. Politicians may think that such speculation is antisocial or harmful (although this remains to be proven).

But whatever one may think: All citizens who try to increase their money through trading in securities by legal means deserve fair treatment. This does not include letting them run into the open knife. The lawmakers are also aware that it is a fine art to find your way around the opaque German tax jungle.

There would certainly have been other options than the current taxation of futures transactions that do not result in the tax authorities cashing in massively on the substance of the investors – and beyond. Prohibitions, restrictions, even higher or additional taxes on profits from futures transactions than on other income – all of this would have avoided the fact that some investors are now facing ruin.

Wasn’t the legislature aware of this? Or was it on purpose? In either case, a “yes” would be a shameful answer. Ignorance may not protect from punishment before the law. But it should at least prevent the legislators from making laws.