Author(s) Sara Ferreira Veiga
Advisor(s) João Sérgio Ribeiro
Year 2017
Synopsis The purpose of this dissertation is to analyze the taxation of net wealth as a general tax on property. This is a subject much debated by most countries, mainly due to the current state of constraint of public finances and the need for States to raise revenues to support their increasing expenses. Nevertheless, the theme is not consensual. Thus, in spite of the numerous attempts to implement this taxation, the tax on large fortunes, by way of taxation of net wealth, currently only exists in France and Spain. In the national legal order, although the matter has already been the subject of study, a general tax on large fortunes has never been established. In favor of tax, the arguments of the need to collect revenues, the redistribution of income and wealth, fiscal equality and justice, solidarity and the reduction of inequalities are essentially defended. On the other hand, there are arguments that a tax on large fortunes leads to capital flight and the relocation of assets is at odds with economic efficiency, competitiveness and development, shies away from the country’s investment and generates tiny revenues. Moreover, the issue is also problematic in the context of the difficult identification of a significant part of the most valuable assets, which are beyond the control of the tax administration, and in the valuation of assets. The complex and fragile circumstances of the tax on large fortunes are thus set out. Having said this, we intend with this dissertation to reflect on a taxation of net wealth and a creation of a tax of this nature in Portugal. Accordingly, our study focuses essentially on the framing of large fortunes in the national legal order, on the comparative analysis of the taxation of net wealth and on the practical dimension of the net wealth tax.
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Author(s) Sara Ferreira Veiga
Advisor(s) João Sérgio Ribeiro
Year 2017
Synopsis The purpose of this dissertation is to analyze the taxation of net wealth as a general tax on property. This is a subject much debated by most countries, mainly due to the current state of constraint of public finances and the need for States to raise revenues to support their increasing expenses. Nevertheless, the theme is not consensual. Thus, in spite of the numerous attempts to implement this taxation, the tax on large fortunes, by way of taxation of net wealth, currently only exists in France and Spain. In the national legal order, although the matter has already been the subject of study, a general tax on large fortunes has never been established. In favor of tax, the arguments of the need to collect revenues, the redistribution of income and wealth, fiscal equality and justice, solidarity and the reduction of inequalities are essentially defended. On the other hand, there are arguments that a tax on large fortunes leads to capital flight and the relocation of assets is at odds with economic efficiency, competitiveness and development, shies away from the country’s investment and generates tiny revenues. Moreover, the issue is also problematic in the context of the difficult identification of a significant part of the most valuable assets, which are beyond the control of the tax administration, and in the valuation of assets. The complex and fragile circumstances of the tax on large fortunes are thus set out. Having said this, we intend with this dissertation to reflect on a taxation of net wealth and a creation of a tax of this nature in Portugal. Accordingly, our study focuses essentially on the framing of large fortunes in the national legal order, on the comparative analysis of the taxation of net wealth and on the practical dimension of the net wealth tax.
See more here.