Constitutional Commute

CK - Washington.   The federal legislator reduced constitutionally a politically sensitive tax deduction for commuters. Germany used to allow generous deductions for commuting expenses and drastically changed that rule for 2007. On December 9, 2008, the Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe ruled new §9(2)(1) of the Income Tax Statute, Einkommensteuergesetz, compatible with the equal protection standard established in Art. 3 (1) of the German Constitu…