Tax avoidance and rationality of law

Abbreviations and Acronyms | str. 11

Foreword | str. 13

Chapter I
Introduction | str. 15
1. Purpose of the study | str. 15
2. State of the art | str. 17
3. Lawmaking and interpretation | str. 19
4. Methodology of the study | str. 22
5. Structure of the study | str. 24

Chapter II
Tax avoidance - the concept | str. 27
1. Introductory remarks | str. 27
2. In search of a definition | str. 29
2.1. Three criteria of tax avoidance | str. 29
2.2. Defeating the purpose of the law | str. 30
2.3. Artificiality | str. 33
2.4. Tax minimisation motive | str. 44
3. Distinctions | str. 52
3.1. Tax avoidance - tax evasion - tax planning | str. 52
3.2. Tax avoidance - sham transactions | str. 58
3.3. Tax avoidance - aggressive tax planning - base erosion and profit shifting | str. 61
4. Conclusions | str. 65

Chapter III
Justification for countering tax avoidance | str. 67
1. Introductory remarks | str. 67
2. Rule of law and anti-avoidance rules | str. 68
2.1. Rule of law | str. 68
2.2. Legitimacy (legality) | str. 73
2.3. Certainty | str. 74
2.4. Formal equality | str. 80
3. The puzzle of tax avoidance | str. 83
3.1. The illegal and the immoral | str. 83
3.2. "Fair share" | str. 85
3.3. Consequences of tax avoidance | str. 90
3.4. Corporate social responsibility | str. 92
3.5. Right to tax minimisation | str. 97
4. Conclusions | str. 103

Chapter IV
Rationality of law | str. 105
1. Introductory remarks | str. 105
2. Law and interpretation | str. 108
2.1. Communicative nature of law | str. 108
2.2. Interpretation as attribution of meaning | str. 109
2.3. Interpretation as optimisation within constraints | str. 114
2.4. Interpretation as attribution of communication intentions | str. 123
3. Rationality of law as intelligibility | str. 131
3.1. Intelligibility and its three aspects | str. 131
3.2. Communicativeness | str. 133
3.3. Reasonability (justifiability) | str. 148
3.4. Coherence | str. 154
4. Conclusions | str. 165

Chapter V
Tax avoidance and rationality of law | str. 167
1. Introductory remarks | str. 167
2. Tax avoidance as defeating rationality of law | str. 168
2.1. Communicativeness | str. 168
2.2. Reasonability (justifiability) | str. 175
2.3. Coherence | str. 180
3. Why rationality? | str. 183
4. Certainty, equality and dignity | str. 192
5. Conclusions | str. 202

Chapter VI
Rationality of income tax law | str. 205
1. Introductory remarks | str. 205
2. What to tax? Concept of income | str. 207
2.1. Origins | str. 207
2.2. From economic phenomenon to legal construct | str. 209
2.3. Ectopia of income taxation (Prebble) | str. 218
3. Where to tax? Allocation of taxing rights | str. 225
3.1. Paradigm | str. 225
3.2. Crisis | str. 229
3.3. Solutions | str. 239
4. How to tax? Formalism | str. 250
4.1. State of complexity | str. 250
4.2. Reasons | str. 254
5. Conclusions | str. 264

Chapter VII
Countering tax avoidance | str. 267
1. Introductory remarks | str. 267
2. Principle-based legislation | str. 268
2.1. What PBL is (empirically) | str. 268
2.2. What PBL should be (theoretically) | str. 270
2.3. Rationality of law | str. 280
2.4. Objections | str. 283
3. General anti-avoidance rules | str. 291
3.1. What a GAAR is (empirically) | str. 291
3.2. What a GAAR should be (theoretically) | str. 295
3.3. Rationality of law | str. 304
3.4. Objections | str. 306
4. Programmes of co-operative compliance (CC) | str. 316
4.1. What CC is (empirically) | str. 316
4.2. What CC should be (theoretically) | str. 322
4.3. Rationality of law | str. 328
4.4. Objections | str. 330
5. Conclusions | str. 335

Chapter VIII
"Power and trust" | str. 337
1. Introductory remarks | str. 337
2. Contemporary models of tax compliance | str. 338
2.1. Model of economic rationality and new reflection | str. 338
2.2. "Responsive regulation" | str. 341
2.3. "Power" and "trust" - "slippery slope" framework | str. 344
2.4. Procedural justice | str. 348
3. Relevance for tax avoidance | str. 350
3.1. Shades of non-compliance | str. 350
3.2. Applicability to tax avoidance | str. 353
3.3. Coercive and non-coercive measures | str. 356
3.4. Effectiveness and fairness of tax law | str. 357
4. Conclusions | str. 360

Summary and conclusions | str. 361

Legal acts and proposals | str. 371

Literature and sources | str. 373