Marek Kalinowski
The notion of the object of taxation
Summary
The subject of this article is an analysis of the term “tax object”.
The author analyzes the meaning of the term “tax object” in the polish tax system and the polish and foreign tax law studies. The author’s conclusion is that both in the legislation and the tax law doctrine there are two meanings of the term “tax object”. According to the first, “tax object” constitutes a particular good or a widely understood “thing” carrying economic value and to which tax is to be applied. But “tax object” is also understood as an event the occurrence of which causes, pursuant to the tax law rules, legal consequences and usually applies to widely understood “things”.
In the conclusion of the article author also formulates general reflections concerning the “tax object”. He argues that it has two aspects: economical and legal. The tax object, understood in a legal aspect, is an event, the occurrence of which causes consequences in tax law. This is an identified living fact, which gains legal significance by being determined in the hypothesis of a norm of tax law. However “tax object” also has a specified economical value. The aim of imposing a tax is to gather a certain sum of money by the state or another public body. According to the author that aim will be achieved if a person on whom the tax eventually falls has the ability to pay. It will have that kind of ability if it has a specified resource of payment of tax. So, tax object to which the tax is to be applied would prove, at least statistically, that the taxpayer possesses wealth, hence has the ability to pay.