Taxation might be considered a means of stimulating economic growth, yet it can be a most dangerous threat to the flourishing of the national economy, undermines the concept of the rule of law and violates some basic human rights and principles such as equality, freedom of contract and occupation and property’s rights. Ways and means in which taxes are levied, their burden and impacts are key factors in this respect.
The aim of the seminar/workshop is to investigate, in a comparative approach, how taxes are considered and used in the social and legal frameworks of the states surrounding the Mediterranean area. Special attention will be given to the following:
Tax legislation: process and substance;
Tax law and human rights (equality, freedom of contract and occupation, property rights, etc.);
Net income concept, tax holidays, tax discounts, tax incentives and tax expenditures;
Economic growth, NGP, and alternative indicators for the individuals and collective wellbeing;
Financial, human and social capital as means production, and special domestic legislation aimed to encourage them;
Justification of encouragement of means of production in general, and with tax legislation in particular
Tax burden, work supply and productivity;
Tax competition: economic, social and legal chances and risks.
The workshop offers three levels of discussion and deliberation: a general doctrinal presentation of the above issues; inquiry of the similarities and differences between European states and Middle East countries in the above topics; and introduction of the domestic approaches of the participants’ own legal systems
