Abstract

This thesis is going to describe the different ways the United States and Germany deal with the problem of double taxation in the legal context of corporate distributions to its shareholders in the form of dividends. Tax law is particularly one of the areas of laws that are subject to frequent and often substantial changes. This is true for the German as well as for the U.S. tax laws. Since some of the issues being discussed in the United States today in connection with the corporate tax law are similar if not identical to the issues discussed in Germany before the tax reform, the purpose of this thesis is to describe the impact and effects the tax reform had on the corporate tax law in Germany After stating the results of the tax reform, the thesis determines whether or not the suggestions raised by the legal literature to improve the U.S. tax system with regard to the policy principles of equity and efficiency are likely to be successful. The second chapter of the thesis introduces the reader to the tax principles of equity and efficiency since these principles set the standards for the evaluation of the tax provisions The third chapter describes in its first part the history and the present state of the U.S. tax law with regard to the distribution of dividends. The second part of the chapter explains the corresponding issues under the German tax law The fourth chapter describes first the adverse and supporting criticism that is expressed in the ongoing discussion about double taxation in the United States. Afterward, the thesis addresses whether the results of the German tax reform met its original objectives.

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