The Rationality of Taxes. A Task of Reconciliation

Abstract

This article begins with a diagnosis of the central problems of contemporary tax law in a neoliberal context: the lack of justification and the failure to comply with tax duties. These problems are explained by a classic paradigm based on a selfish and rational vision of the individual, an instrumental foundation of taxes and a conception of private property as a natural right. In view of this scenario, an alternative reconstruction of the rationality of taxation is made on the basis of Hegel’s ideas of Philosophy of Law. In this way, a proposal is presented that aims to establish a non-instrumental justification of taxes and to overcome the opposition between taxes and private property.