RIVISTA DI DIRITTO TRIBUTARIO INTERNAZIONALE - Rdti.it

G. Petrillo: lnterpellation in the Statute of Taxpayers' Rights
to the chaotic inconsistency that has often characterised our system of legislative
production. Considering this latter aspect, it must be noted that
the Statute constitutes a missed opportunity both from the standpoint of
the rationalisation of tax laws by the issue of a much-awaited code (which
in undoubtedly indispensable for the purposes of the democratic realisation
of tax-Iaw dogma) (9), and from that of the introduction of a law of
a generai character on the debate (prior to the issue of the notice of assessment)
(IO), but nevertheless, one cannot help but view v.ith approvai
fication", see first and foremost C. Glendi, Il "codice tributario" in Italia e le "disposizioni
sulla legge tributan'a in generale", in Dir. prato trib., 1994, page 1137 et seq, Further,
on the same topic, L Perrone, Certezza del diritto e leggi di interpretazione autentica
in materie tributaria, in Rass. trib., n. 4/2001, p. 1052, stress es that:" the physiological
instabili t)' of tax law has recentI)' been aggravated as a result of its incrementing
by EEC norms, also of jurisprudential fonnation, on the matter of taxation and
the progressive weakening of the legai reserve as per Art. 23 of the Constitution", noting
in particular that the current legislative trend ascribes a primary role to regulatory
sources in the disciplining of taxation, consequentIy increasing the state of confusion
\vith which taxpayers have to contendo
G. Falsitta remarks, in Lo Statuto dei diritti del contribueHle e il castello dei Pirenei,
in COIT. giuro n. 2/2001. page 147, with our agreement, that only the future can show
whether the Statute can be considered the first step towards a work uniting in a code
of law the generai principles of the tax-Iaw system, as has long been hoped for by
many, and particularIy by Vanoni, or mereIy a propagandistic catalogue.
Ever since the 1930s, Ezio Vanoni in fact considered the codifying of the generaI
part as the only method capable of assuring the darity and rationality of tax law ( see
E, Vanoni, Il problema della codifìcazione tributaria, in Riv. dir, fin. se. fin" 1983, I,
page 361 et seq,).
E. De Mita, La Legalità tn'bwaria, Milan, 1993, 5 et seq .. , refening to certain aspects
or Vanolli's \mrk with a view to ascertaining its topicality, stresses that Vanoni"
had a COtll'l'P[ or the fiscal system that stilI remains up to date: tax must be bearable,
must no! disl"Olll'age the production of incorne and must not becorne a technical cause
of evasion: [hL' taxation system must be based on a re1ationship of trust and collaboration
bel\\'L't.'n thc adrninistration and the taxpayer", reIying greatly on "the sense of
responsibility of the public administration and the criticaI faculty of the people".
(9) In Latin America the Istituto de Derecho tributario has drawn up a "Codigo
tributario" which has today already been adopted by several nations,; it may prove
stimulating to see ho\\' Carlos Marìa Giuliani Fonrouge (Argentina), Rubens Gomez
de Sousa (Brasile) and Ramòn Valdès Costa (Uruguay) have assumed as their model
and followed as a guideline on the conceptual piane the thinking of our Ezio Vanoni.,
In particular, in relation to the need far codification in the tax-law field as welI, ... iewed
as a necessar:.v condition far the effective realisation of a state of la\v, see V. Uckmar,
La legislaciòn tributaria en un Estado de derecho, paper presented on 28th August 1997
at the FacuItad de Ciencias Jurldicas de la Universidad del Salvador,
(lO) One cannot help showing on this point a certain dissatisfaction aver the slight
incisiveness of the changes made by the Statute in the matter of debate during the inquiry
phase preparatoI}' to the issue of the assessment document. The provision that
RIVISTA DI DIRIITO TRlBUTARIO I\TEIlliAZ!O\ALE 3/2001