Taxation limits by the property protection in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union: The Portuguese study case

Abstract

The Welfare State is increasingly concerned with providing its citizens with an improvement in their living conditions, especially in the protection of universal and free health, free education, unemployment protection and retirement, but to this end it has to obtain financial resources from these same citizens. Each of us thus supports a growing tax burden in return for our social benefits. This study analyzes the tension between the duty to pay taxes and the protection of property in Portugal, to know what is the maximum limit that each one has to pay to avoid confiscation. Methodologically, among others, we rely on the protection of property given by the Convention to the "Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms" and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, as well as, the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights, in addition to statistical data of the Portuguese Tax and Customs Authority.