A scientific retrospective analysis of the development of tax law is impossible without considering the foreign experience of economic and financial sciences in this field of research. The understanding of tax as an integral feature of the state has generated a number of different points of view on its essence, purpose, acceptable collection mechanism, legal justification for exemption, legal composition and principles of taxation. If the economic sciences are constantly searching for principles that could answer the questions: how to formulate the principles and functions of tax law, how to optimally collect taxes while maintaining a balance of private and public finances, then the legal sciences are trying to answer the question: how to regulate this kind of activity while maintaining the harmony of private and public interests.
Social relations prevailing in European states of the period XVIII - XIX centuries. and the practice of tax collection, significantly ahead of the scientific achievements of thinkers in the field of taxation, which led to the emergence of different points of view on the necessity, justice and validity of the practice of tax collection by the state. The advancement of various concepts regarding what the principles of tax law should be, took place within the framework of financial thought.
However, this fact does not preclude a detailed study of the principles of taxation under tax law. The rationale for this position is the following:
- firstly, the science of tax law is in direct correlation with the economic sciences in the field of taxation, because being the subject of research, the basic ideas of tax legislation are developed under the influence of the economic and organizational foundations of taxation, which are the principles of tax law and the principles of tax control ;
- secondly, the mechanism of tax correction at the state level is impossible without legal regulation;
- thirdly, there is a separation of concepts of the principles of taxation and the principles of tax law. The first are fundamental ideas of an economic nature, formulated on the basis of relevant practice. They give rise to another phenomenon - the norms and provisions of tax legislation.
The formation and emergence of the theory of taxes is traditionally attributed to the teachings of A. Smith. He first clearly articulated four principles of taxation, which were later called the “declaration of the rights of payers” and mainly defended the interests of taxpayers. The merit of A. Smith is not in the priority discovery of principles, but in the precise formulation of their content.
These principles of tax law are as follows: the principle of justice, the principle of certainty of the tax, the principle of ease of payment, the principle of economy.
The principle of justice lies in the obligation of citizens of any state to participate in covering the expenses of the latter in proportion to their solvency. According to the theory of A. Smith, the first principle corresponds to the practice of proportional taxation, the essence of which is the obligation of taxpayers with different incomes to give equal shares to the state budget.
The certainty of the tax is interpreted as part of the inadmissibility of establishing an uncertain tax, i.e. it must contain the amount of payment, the term and method of payment.
The content of the principle of ease of payment is that the tax should be levied at a time convenient for the payer and in the most convenient way.
And finally, the principle of saving implies the need to minimize the cost of tax exemption.
At the present stage of development of social relations, the principle of justice, although it has not lost its original meaning, has undergone a significant transformation in connection with changing conditions in the economic, legal, and social spheres of human life. It is considered in two aspects: horizontal and vertical. The essence of the principle of justice “horizontally” is as follows: entities that are in an equal position and have incomes, the second have the same tax base, are required to pay tax at flat rates. The principle of justice "vertically" suggests that entities with different material capabilities are obliged to alienate different parts of their income.
So, having considered the most significant studies of the historical heritage of an economic and financial nature, it should be noted that in accordance with the realities of the emergence and development of a qualitatively new economy of that time, various concepts have been doctrically developed, including those or other principles of tax law that are the result of both scientific and and practical reflection and analysis of tax interactions between the state and society.