Systematic chaos

摘要

Even if German academics left their ivory towers, few politicians would no-tice. Which makes it surprising that Paul Krtchhof, a lawyer at Heidelberg University, has persuaded a group from the two professions that the country's tax system needs radical reform. He did it by drafting 12 pages of legislation that would do away with most tax exemptions and cut the top Alas, this coalition of scholars and statesmen may not get anywhere. On January 18th Angela Merkel, the leader of the opposition Christian Democrats (CDU), said that she did not expect tax reform this year. This was taken as a signal that she was taking the topic off the priority list. A big change is anyway unlikely before the 2006 federal election, if only because there are so many preoccupying local and regional polls before then.