I rapporti tra diritto comune e diritto tributario

This paper analyses the relationship between tax liability and civil law, focusing on Enrico Allorio’s main work concerning tax law (i.e. “Diritto processuale tributario”). The extent of Allorio’s systematization should not be underestimated, because we owe to him the exact determination of the borders of tax liability, such as the intuition of the reason why some rules of the Italian civil code are still applicable to tax law, even if it is a branch of public law. In his opinion, tax liability is framed as a legal obligation; the creditor is the public administration, while the debtor (or obligor) is the taxpayer. It is true that nowadays tax rules regulate almost every part of the Italian taxation system; at the same time, no one disputes that tax law is an autonomous and self-governing subject. Nevertheless, some loopholes still remain: we still do not have a definition of tax liability, and, in some cases (for instance, in joint tax liability, statutes of limitations, etc.), civil code rules are peacefully applicable to tax law. The application of civil code rules to tax law is a consequence of the fact that the former rules are considered as “jus commune”, having the capacity of further extending the scope of their application. Enrico Allorio used this “jus commune” argument in order to explain why rules of civil procedure should be applied to tax trials; but his argument, with some changes, can be used to explain why some rules of the civil code are applicable to tax law.