Tax Treaties and Human Rights Law

Abstract

Abstract This chapter explores the relationship between tax treaties and human rights law. The network of over 3,500 largely bilateral tax treaties has been negotiated and developed almost entirely on the basis of model conventions whose origins predate the main developments in human rights law. It would not be surprising, therefore, if there were a need to update the models to comply with those norms. The starting point is to recognize that tax treaties, like any part of a tax system, may be scrutinized for compatibility with human rights norms. The chapter focuses on the provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and, to a lesser extent, of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). It begins by looking at the case law under the ECHR where a tax treaty has been considered by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). The chapter then considers how those provisions of the ECHR most relevant to taxation may interrelate to tax treaties in respect to a number of specific, identified issues.