Justice, Equality and Tax Law

S. 2201. Introduction

With the Charter of Fundamental Rights (CFR) which entered into force on 1 December 2009 together with the Treaty of Lisbon, the European Union (EU) includes fundamental rights in primary law for the first time. Article 6(1) of the Treaty of the European Union (TEU) gives the CFR the same legal value as EU treaties. The CFR merges fundamental rights and principles as they result from EU treaties, “the constitutional traditions and international obligations common to the Member States, the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms […] and the case-law of the Court of Justice of the European Union and of the European Court of Human Rights“ into one single charter. Relevance is attributed to the CFR as it enacts a validity and interpretative function in relation to secondary EU law and national law falling within the scope of EU law. Thus, over the last twelve years, the CFR has led to greater protection of taxpayers’ fundamental rights in the EU. However, only very little case law exists on the equality articles of the CFR in tax law.

This chapter of the book focuses on Article 20 concerning the general principle of equality and Art...