Katarzyna Knawa
The pricinple of specificity of tax liability as an academic desideratum and legal requirement.
Summary
The Constitutional obligation for everyone to comply with his responsibilities and public duties, including the payment of taxes, as specified by statute remains in conflict with the private ownership protection rule, which is the basis of the democratic state ruled by law. The principle of specificity of tax liability should prevent arbitrary actions taken by the state or its organs of public authority, pursuant to the Latin maxim nullum tributum sine lege. The principle of specificity has two aspects with respect to assigning facts to the respective legal provisions. It plays crucial role in searching for the law imprint unit, which is applicable to the case and the interpretation thereof in order to articulate the actions that the addressee should take. The aim of this paper is to analise the relation between Article 217 of the Polish Constitution, which sets forth the statute primacy rule when it comes to establishing tax - being the basis of the principle of specificity of tax liability - versus the concept of EU law applicability regarding harmonised taxes in the absence or incorrect implementation of the directives.