VerfGH Baden-Württemberg, press release from May 3rd, 2021 on decision 1 VB 54/21 of May 3rd, 2021
–
The Constitutional Court for the State of Baden-Württemberg, with the decision just announced to the complainant, rejected the complainant’s constitutional complaint against the law regulating a state property tax in Baden-Württemberg as inadmissible.
facts
id = “h-Sachverhalt”>
The complainant’s constitutional complaint is directly against the law on the regulation of a state property tax in Baden-Württemberg that was passed by the state parliament on November 4, 2020 and came into force on November 14, 2020. With this law, an independent land tax regulation was created for the first time. From 2025, real estate tax will be levied on the basis of this state law (cf. Section 60 (1) sentence 2 LGrStG); until then, the Federal Real Estate Tax Act declared unconstitutional by the Federal Constitutional Court on April 10, 2018, will continue to apply.
Essential considerations of the Constitutional Court
id = “h-essential-considerations-of-the-constitutional-court”>
The constitutional complaint is inadmissible.
The complainant lacks the necessary authority to lodge a complaint. The challenged legal provisions only develop their effect on the basis of tax assessments relating to the individual case, so that the complainant is not directly adversely affected by the challenged state property tax law. The requirement to wait for the concrete implementation acts cannot be foreseen in the present case.
In addition, the inadmissibility of the constitutional complaint follows from the requirement of exhaustion of legal remedies. Before filing a constitutional complaint against a law, complainants must first refer their concerns to the specialized courts. This has not been done in the present case. There is no cause for a preliminary ruling by the Constitutional Court. With regard to the collection of a property tax from the complainant, numerous factual and legal questions arise, for the clarification of which the specialized courts are responsible and which require a specialized court preparation before an appeal to the Constitutional Court. The complainant would not suffer any serious and inevitable disadvantage in taking legal action to the specialized courts.
Source: VerfGH Baden-Württemberg
–
