The Victorian Taxpayer and the Law: A Study in Constitutional Conflict

by Chantal Stebbings

• ISBN13: 9780521899246
• ISBN10: 0521899249
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2009-05-25
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

The central element of the taxpayer's relationship with the law was the protection it afforded to ensure only the correct amount of tax was paid, that it was legally levied and justly administered. These legal safeguards consisted of the fundamental constitutional provision that all taxes had to be consented to in Parliament, local tax administration, and a power to appeal to specialist tribunals and the courts. The book explains how these legal safeguards were established and how they were affected by changing social, economic and political conditions. They were found to be restrictive and inadequate, and were undermined by the increasing dominance of the executive. Though they were significantly recast, they were not destroyed. They proved flexible and robust, and the challenge they faced in Victorian England revealed that the underlying, pervasive constitutional principle of consent from which they drew their legitimacy provided an enduring protection for the taxpayer.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	p. ix
Table of Statutes	p. x
Table of Cases	p. xiii
List of Abbreviations	p. xvii
The establishment of the taxpayer's safeguards in English law	p. 1
Prologue	p. 1
A new commercial and industrial age	p. 4
The fiscal response	p. 11
The parliamentary safeguards	p. 13
The administrative safeguard of localism	p. 20
The judicial safeguards	p. 30
Access to the legal safeguards	p. 39
Conclusion	p. 44
The taxpayer's constitutional safeguards of Parliament	p. 47
Introduction	p. 47
The undermining of parliamentary consent	p. 47
Tensions between the two Houses of Parliament	p. 61
The effect of the parliamentary reforms	p. 68
Conclusion	p. 75
The administrative safeguard of localism	p. 77
Introduction	p. 77
The role of the executive	p. 81
The executive and localism	p. 84
The assault on localism	p. 94
Government alternatives to localism: the Special Commissioners of Income Tax	p. 105
Conclusion	p. 109
Judicial safeguards	p. 111
Introduction	p. 111
The interpretation of tax statutes	p. 111
Appeals to the Courts	p. 131
The supervisory safeguard strengthened: the growth of certiorari	p. 139
Conclusion	p. 144
The taxpayer's access to the safeguards	p. 146
Introduction	p. 146
The accessibility of tax law	p. 147
The accessibility of the appellate bodies	p. 157
Expert advice	p. 168
Conclusion	p. 174
The taxpayer, the constitution and consent	p. 177
The Victorian taxpayer's protection under the law	p. 177
Popular support for change	p. 182
Opposition to the safeguards' undermining	p. 187
Attitudes to state intervention	p. 192
Constitutionality	p. 197
Epilogue	p. 220
Index	p. 223
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