A link without a right, or ubi nexus, ibi jus (?): international human rights instruments & international tax policy

Abstract

In recent years, human rights scholarship has progressively turned its gaze to the topic of taxation. As a growing body of literature has shown, both the tasks of raising and spending tax revenue may impinge on the realisation of socio-economic rights, a relationship here termed tax and human rights nexus. Notably, however, sovereigns' fiscal powers are, to a large extent, curtailed by the international tax regime. Whereas appeals for a normative alignment between international tax law and human rights are mounting, a closer look at what exactly international human rights frameworks allow with respect to taxation is still largely missing. This article seeks to fill this gap by systematically analysing regional human rights court's jurisprudence on taxation where it intersects socio-economic rights. In doing so, it aims at illuminating the opportunities and challenges for human rights judicial review of international fiscal policies.