Article title Interrelation of Public Finance and the Democratic Set-Up of Society by the Example of the Right to Information and the Right to Class Action Lawsuit
Authors

   

Name of magazine Legal journal «Law of Ukraine» (Ukrainian version)
Issue 11/2018
Сторінки [32-52]
DOI 10.33498/louu-2018-11-032
Annotation

The article focuses on such a topical issue as a correlation between the form of society’s political set-up and public finance. The author makes an analysis of democracy which, under the guise of public interest, is increasingly interfering with private life of an individual, thereby limiting his/her freedom, although freedom is what democracy is primarily intended to ensure. In other words, democracy under the veil of good intentions is gradually turning into its antipode. The purpose of the article is to clarify the interrelation between the democratic form of society and public finance in the context of the results obtained, to analyze the taxpayers’ right to information, and to develop the proposals for improvement of the legislation covering the taxpayers’ right to information, and also to provide rationale and study the taxpayers’ right to class action lawsuit. The author suggests that the human right enshrined in Article 8 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms be understood not only and not so much as ensuring the non-disclosure of information about a person, being as such undoubtedly harmful to the person, but rather as ensuring the person’s freedom to live freely without a hint of the possibility that information about him/her may become known to third parties (including the State). The author highlights the opinion of the European Court of Human Rights and the European Court of Justice and reviews the EU legislation on this issue, and in this context analyzes the positions of national courts with regard to information about taxpayers contained in the databases of regulatory authorities. The author brings up the issue of the “golden mean” between the public interest and the taxpayer’s private interest in the public finance sector. Therefore, the generally known principle “No taxation without consent”, withstanding the centuries, has acquired a new meaning, however, with the priority being shifted not in favor of private interest (the range of subjects whose consent is necessary for taxation has not been expanded but decreased, vice versa). That is, a taxpayer’s consent to taxation is presumed, and even if the latter “objects”, the obligation to pay the tax which is introduced according to the statutory procedure arises under any circumstances. The article emphasizes that such a situation does not mean “robbery” on the part of the State, since the State has an obligation to spend budget funds for the intended purpose/ effectively/fairly. The efficient use of budget funds by the State is a legally protected interest of every taxpayer which may be defended in court by filing an individual claim as well as a class action lawsuit. The author analyzes the possibility of filing a class action lawsuit in the context of the current Ukrainian legislation and, based on the analysis of international experience, suggests the ways to improve the legislation in this area.

 

Keywords public finance; democracy; form of political set-up; right to information; public interest; private interest; interest protected by law; class action lawsuit; efficient use of budget funds
References REFERENCES
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