Taxpayers in Germany would have a carefree life if the state treated their tax affairs with the same casualness as cum-ex deals.
The tax authorities ignored this clever trick of the financial industry for years and then only half-heartedly fought it.
Now he is taking a surprising amount of time with the reclaims.
So much time that the legislature had to push through a daring change in the law in 2020 so that the profit from these dubious stock transactions can be skimmed off even if the tax claims under the old law have long since expired.
The Federal Constitutional Court has now rightly approved this regulation with reference to "overriding public interest concerns".
That should be a reminder to the tax authorities to collect the tax debts with significantly more verve.
Even ten years after the cum-ex swamp dried up, the Treasury only managed to do this for a fraction of the billions in outstanding amounts.
It steps on the toes of every normal taxpayer much more quickly.