In contrast to traders, liberal professionals were traditionally regarded as altruistic and independent in pursuing their work due to their high professional qualification. This idealistic component has been replaced by an increasing market-oriented structural adjustment. Apart from the development of the former "dirty trade" to a service-oriented business, the government has contributed to the fact that both sectors are hardly distinguishable by creating a heterogeneity of liberal professions in the job catalogue of section 18 (1) sentence 1 of the German Income Tax law. As a result, liberal professions hardly have any characteristics which are suitable for justifying their existing special role in jurisdiction.