> Conclusion: The rather moderate statements on the part of taxpayers not only exhibit a 
different communication culture, but also the weak position of this group 
due to the actually occurring, illegal cases of tax evasion. 
The interest group of German taxpayers receives support from the German private sector: 
"The transparent tax citizen cannot be the answer of politics to its own failings in the reform 
of our tax system." (Director of the German Association of Medium-Sized Enterprises, 
BVMW, Mario Ohoven, Euro am Sonntag, 24.2.2008, 8) and "Better tax morality results 
from a continuous and simple system without exceptions, that everyone understands and that 
treats all recipients equally and adequately punishes abuses." (Director of RWE, Jürgen 
Grossmann, Handelsblatt, 25.2.2008, 5). Even the president of the Federal Constitutional 
Court, Hans-Jürgen Papier, supports this view: "Tax law is too complicated and has become 
unmanageable. [...] It can be seen at all levels that the legal awareness of citizens is 
diminishing." (Papier, Die Welt, 22.2.2008, 11). 
> Conclusion: This support is unexpected and shows the real problems in value-neutral 
terms. 
In summary, it can be said that on the Liechtenstein side, the Office of the Public Prosecutor, 
the LGT Bank affected by the data theft, and the Liechtenstein Bankers Association made an 
appearance as interest group actors: either to explain the situation — such as a speaker of LGT 
in FTD of 20.2.2008 (pp. 1 and 26) "Our problem is that we don't know what materials the 
German investigators are using as a basis." — or to present their standpoint — such as Michael 
Lauber, Director of the LBA in SZ of 26.2.2008: "This is primarily a German problem." 
On the German side, it was mainly the public prosecutors' offices, tax authorities, tax 
investigators, and the German Tax Union who all had more or less the same interest, namely 
to suppress tax evasion and the transfer of German tax money abroad, by whatever means. On 
the other side of the interests to be distinguished, there was the German Taxpayers 
Association, with support from the private sector and the courts, which made the 
unmanageable nature of German tax laws and the high tax rates responsible for tax dishonesty 
and whose interest is in reducing taxes and simplifying the tax system. 
6.5.3 The mass media 
The mass media are linked with other areas of society at an individual and organizational 
level. Their main functions are to provide information and social orientation. From the 
perceived reality, the journalist actively constructs a media reality which is codetermined by a 
multitude of individual and systemic factors. Media reality is a collective product that is 
determined by the participating individuals, organizations and their interactions as well as 
interaction with the environment (see Eichhorn 2005, 154). 
The mass media played a dominant role in the examined case. The German and international 
tax debate triggered by the "Zumwinkel affair" was essentially conducted via the international 
media and especially the German media, not at the established bilateral political and 
administrative levels, although they obviously had a political dimension. On 14 February 
2008, TV teams were long standing at the ready when representatives of the Bochum public 
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