The Principle of Priority of Public Interests in Financial Activity of the State: In Search for a Compromise

Abstract

The paper examines one of the key problems in financial relations, namely: how to ensure the balance between private and public interests as values protected under the Constitution. Taking into account the modern constitutional axiology (Article 2 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation), the principle of priority of public interests, which has already been settled in the doctrine, is subjected to critical analysis. The author concludes that the priority of public interest and its perception as a methodological framework, in fact, does not promote and even impedes the development of relationships in the system “a taxpayer — the State” based on the principles of open cooperation and trust. The priority of one interest over another does not comply with the requirement of their equilibrium. On the basis of the analysis of the practice of constitutional justice, the author concludes that it is necessary to shift the values and rethink the former statist scientific views. The author substantiates an egalitarian approach that takes into account both private and public interests as equally important legal values and provides for dialogue and mutual respect between the taxpayer and the state.