Sustainability in EU Tax Law

Abstract

As sustainability embeds concepts of economic prosperity and growth, the idea of pursuing it through law — and through lawyers, with their tendency to focus on rights, as opposed to what seems fiscally prudent, or, frankly, simply affordable — might seem risky. The risk may be that lawyers will proceed on the basis that all citizens have rights, for example, to a healthy environment, a productive economy and a good education, all at the same time, no matter what the cost. So, pursuing these things through legal concepts, as opposed, say, to targeted budgeting, might seem foolhardy. The problem, however, is that EU citizens do have rights to all of these things under the founding treaties. Therefore, the law will need to be involved.