UNCULTIVATED AGRICULTURAL LAND BETWEEN CRIMINAL AND TAX LAW
Keywords:
property tax, tax on agricultural land, misdemeanor sanctions, agricultural land, uncultivated landAbstract
Purpose
In recent years, there have been several proposals to encourage greater utilization of agricultural land, through the application of the tax law institutes. On the one hand, tax relief is proposed for agricultural land that is cultivated, while on the other hand, stricter taxation of land that is not used/cultivated is proposed. Such approach completely ignores the fact that there is already an institute in the legal system of Serbia whose goal is to increase the utilization of agricultural land, and that is a misdemeanor, i.e. misdemeanor sanction. The subject of research in this paper will be precisely these two legal institutes: tax on agricultural land and misdemeanor sanctions for its non-use. The aim is to review their potential in order to encourage the use of agricultural land, but within the limits of its optimal use.
Design/Methods/Approach
The subject of research was processed using a synthetic method, using economic and legal methodology, and above all the method of tax and criminal law.
Findings
Special taxation of uncultivated land is neither economically nor legally acceptable. First of all, this would result in duplicating the instruments that are intended to encourage the use of unused agricultural land, given that there is already a system of misdemeanor sanctions. Instead of conducting a misdemeanor proceeding, the proposed property tax modifications would mean that a tax proceeding would also need to be conducted. The tax is inferior to the misdemeanor also because of its inflexibility in determining the amount that the owner of uncultivated land should pay. Finally, the question of the constitutionality of such a solution arises as well.
Originality/Value
The article represents the result of research conducted within the project commissioned by the Agricultural Land Administration of the Republic of Serbia, in the process of preparing a legal proposal that would incentive the use of agricultural land. Based on the conclusions obtained, the proposed changes to the tax regulations were abandoned.
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