If a State respects the principle of legality, it can be described as a State governed by the rule of law. In these cases, the action of the state finds its limits in the constitution and does not overwhelm the rights of a citizen. As the title of the article indicates, today`s topic is the principle of legality. We warn that it is not a question of transforming this space into a chair of law, but simply of giving a simple explanation of the chosen subject. A leader cannot act in this way in a way that contradicts the provisions of the Constitution, which compiles the essential norms of the State. According to the principle of legality, it is not enough that the leader in question was elected by referendum or that he was installed as president when he won the election: all his state measures must be subject to the law. In tax law, in accordance with the principle of legality, only a rule of law of a legal nature may define each element of the tax liability, namely the chargeable event, the payers, the system or basis for determining the chargeable event, the time of payment, the infringements, penalties and exemptions and the body legalised to obtain payment of taxes. The Latin maxim nullum tributum sine legem states that to be considered as such, a tribute must be contained in a law, otherwise it is not a tribute. It is considered that legal certainty requires that the actions of those to which the public authorities belong be subject to the principle of legality.
The principle is sometimes considered the “golden rule” of public law and is a necessary condition for confirming that a state is a state governed by the rule of law, since power has its basis and limit in legal norms. In close connection with this principle, the establishment of the reservation of rights obliges to regulate the concrete matter with norms that have the status of law, in particular questions relating to the interference of public authority in the field of the rights of the individual. Therefore, these are matters prohibited by the rules and regulations issued by the executive. The reservation of law with respect to the exercise of rights to the legislature reflects the liberal doctrine of the separation of powers. In general, this implies that all authorities and citizens are subject to the law and can only do what is or is not allowed by law. The principle of legality is combined with other general principles of law. Within the framework of the principle of legality, it acts in conjunction with the principle of the general interest, according to which the private interest must give way to the public or social interest, and with the principle of separation of powers, according to which public authority is divided into bodies with specific and limited functions for each of them. /December).
“The principle of legality”. Revista Española de Derecho Constitucional (Madrid: Centro de Estudios Políticos y Constitucionales) (39): 9-42. However, as the Constitutional Court points out, from an objective point of view, the principle of legality is one of the foundations “by virtue of which the exercise of power in a welfare state based on the rule of law is organised constitutionally”. In its third paragraph, it provides that the Constitution guarantees the principle of legality, the hierarchy of regulations, the publication of norms, the non-retroactive effect of provisions relating to sanctions that do not promote or restrict the rights of the individual, legal certainty, responsibility and the prohibition of arbitrariness on the part of public authority. Article 97 reminds the Government that it must exercise its functions in accordance with the Constitution and the laws. The constitutional principle of legality in the field of taxation implies that the creation, modification and elimination of taxes, as well as the granting of tax exemptions and other tax advantages, the determination of the chargeable event, taxpayers, persons entitled to the reserve, the corresponding aliquots and the taxable amount must be carried out by law. In other words, the principle of legality means the submission of states and authorities to the law and the legislative process. To do otherwise would be to exercise arbitrary power. There are four guarantees that this principle protects: as the Constitutional Court has indoctrinated, the principle of legality can be concretized in the following two aspects: -Principle of the legality of registration. It states that each document you wish to enter in the register must be checked in advance in order to be verified and therefore verified as valid and perfect. -Principle of administrative legality, which is responsible for ensuring that each of the acts, decisions and measures adopted by the administration is subject to the law.
-Principle of fiscal legality. It therefore appears that only a rule of law of a legal nature can determine the basis of the tax obligations. That is, only the latter can define who is faced with the payment of the same thing, on what data, by what system, the actions that are classified as violations, and even what will be the sanctions for their commission. Content: the elements that make up the principle of legality. On the one hand, it can be studied in terms of the literal content of legality from a formal point of view and its material significance: on the other hand, it is assumed that it is the law that conditions and positively determines the administrative act, which is not valid if it does not meet a current normative provision.