De lege ferenda -tutkimusote vero-oikeudessa: pohdintaa teorian, käytännön ja tieteenalojen rajapinnoilla
Keywords:
vero-oikeus, de lege ferenda , veropolitiikka, lainoppi, oikeusteoriaAbstract
De lege ferenda arguments in tax law research
The article examines de lege ferenda arguments in the context of the Finnish tax system. By providing de lege ferenda recommendations on how the current tax legislation ought to be amended, the academic tax law researcher participates in the tax policy debate. De lege ferenda arguments are more explicitly value-based than interpretive legal arguments, which are sometimes treated in tax jurisprudence as if they were neutral. The article discusses the difference between research-based de lege ferenda arguments and other types of tax policy arguments, such as those that are derived from economics. The article provides six practical examples of contexts where de lege ferenda arguments typically arise in the Finnish tax system. The examples show that de lege ferenda arguments are typically related to technical aspects of the tax system, instead of its fundamental structure. Research-based de lege ferenda arguments arise from a specific jurisprudential understanding of how the tax system works. This internal view of the tax system is unique to legal research and cannot be substituted, for example, with economic analyses. The article concludes that de lege ferenda arguments could be sought and presented more actively in Finnish academic tax law research.
