Increasingly, costs for governmental tasks are being passed on to those societal groups who presumably profit most from the fulfillment of those duties. Besides the common national duties such as lighting and road maintenance the above arguably also applies to expenses incurred by prudential regulation as well as services provided by private authorities. Typically, duties for cost allocation purposes can be qualified as cost allocation taxes, occasionally also as contributory fees. The legitimacy of cost allocation is generally questionable, especially when considering the individual cases. According to the prevailing doctrine the Confederation lacks the competence to introduce such taxes. A further issue arises when considering the equal protection clause.