La conveniencia de la prohibición legal de amnistías fiscales ante el principio constitucional de igualdad tributaria

Abstract

The duty to contribute to the support of public expenditures set forth in article 31.1 of the Spanish Constitution of 1978, in the terms expressed by the Constitutional Court, entails the prohibition of granting discriminatory tax privileges, in particular, of tax benefits not justified from a constitutional perspective, as it constitutes a breach in the organization of the tax system based on the economic capacity of taxpayers obliged to pay taxes and on the importance of enshrining in the Constitution the tax principles of generality, equity, progressivity and non-confiscation, which must articulate any regulatory structure for the benefit of tax justice, as they are referred in article 3.1 of the General Tax Law in favor of justice and equality in taxation. To this end, the Government has recently approved Law 11/2021, of July 9, against tax fraud, which prohibits the establishment of instruments that are considered extraordinary for tax regularization or amnesties that imply a reduction of the tax debt accrued in accordance with current legislation.