INCOME TAX PROGRESSIVITY AND CONSTITUTIONAL CONCRETIZATION: THE EFFECTS OF THE TAX LEGISLATION

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to critically analyze the claims that the income tax progressivity should be necessarily related to the ability-to-pay principle and to the prescription of graduated rates – what would narrow the scope of action of the legislator. Starting from the justification of the progressivity and its critics, this paper faces these arguments focusing on the form in which the income tax progressivity was constitutionally prescribed and aims to demonstrate that the tax effects on the society and on the taxpayers’ behavior are key to ensure the effectiveness of this rule.