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| DROI2027-1 | Tax law and Human rights
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| Duration : | 30h Th |
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| Credits/ECTS : |
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| Holder(s) : | Marc Bourgeois |
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| Language : | Langue française |
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| Course contents : | Priority is given to the technique of teaching in the form of questions.
Induction process: de facto situations are submitted to the students at the beginning of the class, questions are asked, a discussion takes place and the applicable principles and rules are found through shared reflection; the teacher ends the class with a summary, aimed at systemising the main suggestions found during the session.
The quality of the discussion will depend on the students having thoroughly read certain pieces of material in advance (reading doctrine articles, reading and synthesising jurisprudence decisions beforehand, etc.).
The course will include a first part dedicated to the study of implementing the principle of equality and non-discrimination in taxation.
The second part covers the system of several fundamental rights, specifically linked to taxation. These fundamental rights can be invoked in combination with a rule of equality and non-discrimination or, if necessary, in an isolated manner.
A sub-distinction may be suggested, depending on whether human rights have an impact on material tax standards (the right for all to have their estate or property respected, the right to marry or to found the family of one's choice, free trade and industry, etc.) or procedural standards (privacy rights, right to a proper appeal before a judge, and more generally, right to a fair trial, etc.).
Particular emphasis is put on the impact of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms on tax matters.
The concept of "human rights" is considered from a broad angle within the framework of the course: principle of the legality of tax (right to the intervention of a democratically elected assembly), legal security (non-retroactivity of the tax standard, legitimate expectations regarding tax administration, practice of ruling), etc. |
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| Course objective : | - To raise awareness among students concerning the importance of fundamental rights and freedoms and the principle of equality and non-discrimination in contemporary tax practice: setting up the centralised control of the constitutionality of the laws, as well as recent developments in jurisprudence in the European Court of Human Rights, have had the effect of modifying essential elements in Belgian tax law and upsetting certain traditional convictions;
- Emphasis on the different means that could be raised, on the basis of the rules sanctioning fundamental rights, with a view to controlling the validity of the tax standards and the legitimacy of the procedures and acts that ensure their implementation (by the government)
- Besides a specific approach within the framework of the different courses relating to specific tax disciplines, the aim to make a global summary of the way in which the three supreme courts in Belgium implement the principle of equality in tax matters: arouse certain methodical reactions in the minds of students regarding the implementation of this principle, by having an overall vision of the relevant jurisprudence as an instrument. |
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| Prerequisites : | Elementary knowledge of the general principles of tax law; sound knowledge of the foundation of Belgian and international public law; elementary knowledge of the principles that govern private judiciary law, administrative disputes and constitutional disputes in Belgium. |
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| Organization : | Lectures
Three-hour sessions, Thursday evenings, from 18:00 to 21:00, starting in week 21. |
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| Written notes : | Students progressively receive documentation (jurisprudence decisions and doctrinal contributions) which constitute a documentation file.
Students are asked to obtain certain doctrinal sources themselves (work in the library). Furthermore, they are asked to contribute to discussions by spontaneously bringing documents to class. |
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| Assessment : | Written exam with a documentation file:
- a theoretical question
- summary and commentary on a jurisprudence decision
- a short dissertation on the basis of a casus submitted for assessment |
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| Contacts : | Marc Bourgeois
Chargé de cours
ULG - Faculté de droit
Boulevard du Rectorat, 7 Bât B 31
4000 - Liège
+ 32 4 366 48 83
Marc.Bourgeois@ulg.ac.be
Adeline Römer
Assistante
ULG - Faculté de droit
Boulevard du Rectorat, 7 Bât B 31
4000 - Liège
A.Romer@ulg.ac.be |
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