EXTRA-TAXATION AND PROPERTY RIGHT IN THE EUROPEAN UNION LAW

Indirect taxes are the essence -and the main priority- of tax harmonization in the European Union. The vast majority of EU tax harmonization directives refer to this type of taxation. At the same time, indirect taxes constitute the field in which the principles of tax justice are less defined, either regarding EU Member States, or the institutions of the European Union. This is an issue about which no explicit reference has been found within the EU original or primary law; we don’t find it in the Treaty of the European Union or in the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. The materialization of the fundamental rights in the area of community taxation will be of crucial importance for the concretion of these principles, especially in relation to the property right. Thus, within the fiscal harmonization of indirect taxation, the extra-fiscal perspective and, particularly within it, the environmental issues, are of especial relevance. We should bear in mind that excise duties represent an essential field within tax harmonization and within them, taxation of energy and energy products is paramount. These products, due to their highly pollutant nature, have an environmental transcendence that needs to be taken into consideration.

La armonización fiscal de los impuestos especiales = The fiscal harmonization of special taxes

<p>Este artículo doctrinal analiza el estado de la armonización fiscal de los impuestos especiales o accisas, en denominación comunitaria, poniendo de evidencia que todavía queda mucho por hacer.</p><p>This essay tries to analyze the fiscal harmonization of the Excises duties or accisas, in community name, putting of evidence that still remains great for doing.</p>

Environmental taxation and the need for tax limits in the EU legal system = Fiscalidad ambiental y la necesidad de límites tributarios en el ordenamiento jurídico de la UE

In spite of the fact that almost all the European Union member States have similar princi­ples of tax justice, there is not an express specification about them in the Primary Law of the Union. The institutions of the European Union have some tax competences given by their member States, specially highlighting fiscal harmonization of certain state taxes. The tax harmonization directives, despite this lack of express specification, cannot forget these principles of tax justice. The argument of the environmental taxation of hydrocarbons has been used to increase the fiscal pressure over the gasoline until a point where its legitimacy should be discussed, not only from the constitutional point of view, but also from the Euro­pean Union Treaties. Individual States are not the only ones responsible for this situation but also European Union institutions are, since the tax on mineral oils has been harmonized by European Union directives.Keywords: environmental taxation, European Union, limits.Resumen: A pesar del hecho de que en la mayoría de los Estados miembros de la Unión Europea existen unos principios de justicia tributaria similares, no existe una especificación expresa de éstos en el Derecho Originario de la Unión. Las instituciones de ésta tienen determinadas competencias en materia tributaria atribuidas por sus Estados miembros, especialmente en relación a la armonización fiscal de ciertos impuestos estatales. Las directivas de armonización fiscal, a pesar de esta falta de especificación expresa, no pueden olvidar estos principios de justicia tributaria. El argumento de la fiscalidad ambiental de los hidrocarburos ha sido utilizado para incrementar la presión fiscal sobre los carburantes hasta un nivel con respecto al cual sería discutible su legitimidad, no sólo desde el punto de vista constitucional, sino también desde la perspectiva de los Tratados de la Unión Europea. Los Estados individualmente considerados no son los únicos responsables de esta situación, sino que también lo son las instituciones de la Unión Europea, desde el momento en que la imposición sobre hidrocarburos se encuentra armoni­zada conforme a directivas de la Unión.Palabras clave: fiscalidad ambiental, Unión Europea, límites.

Fiscal Harmonization or Fiscal Union in Eurozone?

The aftermath of the financial crisis and following debt crisis that the European Monetary Union faced in 2008 required re-examining the architecture of the Euro area and a cost/benefit assessment of the monetary union. When one examines the causes of the crises, one sees that EMU's financial architecture stands out. Although there is a common monetary policy application authority within EMU, local economies can carry on with their own autonomous fiscal policies without any effective control mechanisms. Problems with structures caused arguments about EMU's architecture. It is clear that there is a need for changes in EMU's architecture in short term for euro to survive. The objective of this chapter is to present some suggestions to the policy makers and to point out the problems with the architecture and mechanisms needed to be brought into being in order EMU to survive with the ongoing crisis.

Fiscal Integration and Harmonization

The concept of integration expresses an extremely fundamental and complicated formation. Despite such important and complicated issues and problems, Europe has made considerable progress and developments and been able to form the European Economic Community first and then the European Communities, and finally the European Union. It is necessary to precisely and smoothly complete the three stages of integration in order to mention about an exact integration. These stages, economic integration, fiscal integration, and political integration are discussed within this chapter. The first stage, economic integration, can be achieved only with the integration of the trade among the elements of the integration. Hence, it is required to seek for the fiscal harmonization of the tax legislation that is the most important competition breaker element in the field in question. A complete economic integration will be possible only by providing this fiscal harmonization.