The paper consists of two parts. In the first one (§ 1-4), constitutional principles on du-ty to pay taxes are outlined on the basis of the Constituent Assembly proceedings and of the subsequent Constitutional Court case law. In the second part (§ 5-6), the focus is on the effectiveness of the duty, by investigating the ‘deviant phenomena’ of tax evasion and tax expenditures. The purpose of the analysis (§ 7) is to show that nowadays tax evasion and tax expenditures have undoubted constitutional relevance, both for the achievement of budgetary balance and for the preservation of the social system.
Keywords: Duty to pay taxes; constitutional principles; Constituent Assembly; effectiveness; tax evasion; tax expenditures.