Taxpayer’s rights and tax law making – selected issues

Abstract

The proper functioning of the state’s financial mechanisms requires efficient financial policy, including tax policy. The predictability of changes in tax law implementing a policy known to taxpayers is consistent with the principle of legal certainty, as it significantly reduces the negative consequences of instability. As is known, meetings of the Sejm and Senate are public. However, draft tax law provisions and even assumptions preceding these drafts should also be public. On the one hand, this would enable, or at least significantly facilitate, appropriate public consultations, and on the other, it would reduce taxpayers’ uncertainty about future law. In the course of work on the draft, care should be taken to ensure the correctness of the legal language and to respect the principles of legislative technique. Consulting and issuing opinions on draft tax provisions by various entities, including experts, is of great importance for legislative works. Consultations with the participation of taxpayers, representatives of social, self-government and economic organizations as well as professional self-governments have an impact on the quality of law and promote the proper balance of public and private interests in tax law. In the event of an incomprehensible provision, the taxpayer should be protected by the in dubio pro tributario rule. Such a provision cannot be the basis for applying sanctions to the taxpayer. One of the most important tax principles from the point of view of taxpayer’s rights is the principle of certainty. The taxpayer’s legal certainty and security is closely related to the lex retro non agit principle. The principles of protecting acquired rights and protecting ongoing interests are also important. It is worth emphasizing that the draft Taxpayers’ Rights Act recently introduced to the Sejm, devotes quite a lot of attention to the provisions on tax law making. Observation of practice proves that such provisions are needed because they would contribute to improving the quality of our tax law on the one hand and strengthening the protection of taxpayers’ rights on the other.