The Victorian Taxpayer and the Law: A Study in Constitutional Conflict

by Chantal Stebbings

Overview

The central element of the taxpayer's relationship with the law was the protection it afforded to ensure only the correct amount of tax was paid, that it was legally levied and justly administered. These legal safeguards consisted of the fundamental constitutional provision that all taxes had to be consented to in Parliament, local tax administration, and a power to appeal to specialist tribunals and the courts. The book explains how these legal safeguards were established and how they were affected by changing social, economic and political conditions. They were found to be restrictive and inadequate, and were undermined by the increasing dominance of the executive. Though they were significantly recast, they were not destroyed. They proved flexible and robust, and the challenge they faced in Victorian England revealed that the underlying, pervasive constitutional principle of consent from which they drew their legitimacy provided an enduring protection for the taxpayer.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521899246
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	05/07/2009
Series:	Cambridge Tax Law Series
Pages:	244
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Professor Chantal Stebbings is Professor of Law and Legal History at the University of Exeter and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. She is also a General Commissioner of Income Tax. In the past she has served as Dean of the Faculty of Law at the University of Exeter, Visiting Professor at the University of Rennes, France and a Fellow of the Institute of Taxation.

Table of Contents

1. The establishment of the taxpayer's safeguards in English law; 2. The taxpayer's constitutional safeguards of parliament; 3. The administrative safeguard of localism; 4. Judicial safeguards; 5. The taxpayer's access to the safeguards; 6. The taxpayer, the constitution and consent.