Fair Taxation as a Basic Human Right
International Review of Constitutionalism, 2009
20 Pages Posted: 23 Sep 2008 Last revised: 7 Aug 2014
Date Written: November 11, 2009
Abstract
One of the themes of this symposium issue is to explore the limits and possibilities of law and legal institutions in redressing poverty and economic inequality. This essay approaches the question by considering the ways in which domestic tax policy interacts with internationally-recognized human rights. I suggest that focusing on human rights jurisprudence could change the conventional balance among the tripartite of equity, efficiency, and simplicity principles that constitute traditional tax policy analysis. Accordingly, I propose that we may appropriately evaluate tax law and legal institutions according to whether they protect or undermine human rights, as a means of opening up new ways of tackling old and entrenched tax policy issues.
Keywords: taxation, tax policy, fairness, equity, efficiency, human rights, international taxation, UNDHR, ICCPR, ICESER, economic and social rights, access to necessities, deferral, multinational, neutrality, subpart F
JEL Classification: H11, H21, H87, F02, F50, F53, F59, Z13, E63, H2, K33, K34, N40, P45
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation