Environmental taxation and the need for tax limits in the EU legal system =

Abstract

In spite of the fact that almost all the European Union member States have similar princi­ples of tax justice, there is not an express specification about them in the Primary Law of the Union. The institutions of the European Union have some tax competences given by their member States, specially highlighting fiscal harmonization of certain state taxes. The tax harmonization directives, despite this lack of express specification, cannot forget these principles of tax justice. The argument of the environmental taxation of hydrocarbons has been used to increase the fiscal pressure over the gasoline until a point where its legitimacy should be discussed, not only from the constitutional point of view, but also from the Euro­pean Union Treaties. Individual States are not the only ones responsible for this situation but also European Union institutions are, since the tax on mineral oils has been harmonized by European Union directives.