Spanish special taxes and the tax harmonization of the European union

Abstract

If the special taxes have been imposed with a fundamental objective of promoting a consumption limitation of certain products derived from their devastating social or environmental impact, it is necessary to reflect on their high cost produced by the transposition of the EU Directive 2020/262 of the Council, from December 19th, 2019, which establishes a general regime of special taxes and their taxation. If the objective of the aforementioned Directive is to achieve a fiscal harmonization, it is necessary to consider the effects that occur when its application in the Spanish state directly collides with the economic capacities and tax justice, since these principles may be void of a content and threaten to a greater or lesser extent against another basic non-confiscatory tax collection. For this reason, this work will analyze some issues related to its high quantification and the results produced in the EU harmonization line. Taking into account that our constitutional principles may be called into question, there will be raised various questions about a double taxation of the products affected by these taxes, and, how, in its social repercussion, it does not seem to comply with its alleged extra-taxation in terms of its effectiveness.

Keywords

• special tax
• extra-tax
• confiscatory
• harmonization