The lecturer from the Faculty of Law at UIC Barcelona Jordi de Juan has published an article in the journal with the highest impact factor in its category, Nueva Fiscalidad, in which he analyses the dubious constitutionality of the Royal Decree-Law 3/2016, a measure introduced by the Ministry of Finance in 2016, which led to a significant increase in corporate tax.

Under the title “La impermeabilización del Impuesto sobre Sociedades al Decreto-Ley: la dudosa constitucionalidad del Real Decreto-Ley 3/2016, de 2 de diciembre” (‘The impermeability of corporate income tax in the Decree-Law: the dubious constitutionality of Royal Decree-Law 3/2016 of 2 December 2016’), Jordi de Juan concludes that "the regulation of the essential elements of corporation tax is a material sphere impenetrable by the decree-law". He also added that the measure that was implemented five years ago "incurs other material defects of unconstitutionality on which the Constitutional Court will probably not rule". In fact, on the basis of this and other related studies, De Juan has foregrounded the raising of a question of unconstitutionality in the procedural hearing of the Spanish High Court on 23 March 2021.

The Faculty professor also proposes an analytical approach hitherto unexplored by Spain's highest constitutional collegiate body, which consists of connecting the abusive use of the decree-law, the principle of tax legality and self-imposition and the right to political participation in a representative democracy.

Reference:

De Juan, Jordi.“La impermeabilización del Impuesto sobre Sociedades al Decreto-Ley: la dudosa constitucionalidad del Real Decreto-Ley 3/2016, de 2 de diciembre”. Nueva Fiscalidad (2021).