Principles of taxation and their economic and legal nature

Abstract

An analysis of principles of tax relations enshrined in the current Tax Code of Ukraine is performed, highlights of their correlation with the basic economic principles of tax relations are given. It is established that legal regulation of tax relations is an important and responsible task to connect objective economic processes and the public interest, equalize the resulting disparities between individual sectors of the economy or territories of the state, achieve a fair distribution of social wealth. The interdependent influence of economics and tax law regulation as an indication of general interaction bewteen law and economics is demonstrated. It is determined that the study of economic content in the principles of tax relations should take into account nature of taxation and one of the main functions of taxation, which is distributive (redistributive) function, that complements other basic tax functions, namely fiscal, incentive and regulatory. It is emphasized that tax and economic relations are characterized by the dynamics of their development, therefore, the ability of principles to define and guide development is very important in conditions when static tax law rules no longer keep up with the natural dynamics of regulated tax relations. It is argued that in each principle of taxation, defined by the current Tax Code of Ukraine as the basis of domestic tax legislation, there is both a part of the legal structure and a part of the economic aspect of taxation. The first of them is based on the fact that the consolidation of the very foundations of tax legislation and the regulation of tax relations can only take place in a legal form, which guarantees fairness, transparency and legal certainty as the main components of the general principle of the rule of law. Instead, the economic aspect of the foundations of the current tax legislation of Ukraine is clearly expressed in their content and is a natural consequence of the economic essence of tax relations, the original importance of taking into account economic laws, proportions and levers of influence when establishing legal mechanisms, putting into effect and paying taxes and fees. It is concluded that in the unity of legal form and economic content the principles of tax relations become not only abstract static rules, but also begin to operate directly, given the dynamics and priority of economic laws to achieve goals in taxation while strictly adhering to and implementing the rule of law and all its components.