Tax System Resilience in Armed Conflict: A Comparative Legal Analysis
Abstract
This paper examines the resilience of tax systems during armed conflict from a legal and constitutional perspective. While previous research has primarily explained tax resilience through economic and fiscal factors, this study argues that it is fundamentally shaped by the interaction of constitutional safeguards, administrative capacity, tax policy design, and the structure of the tax system. The paper adopts a comparative legal methodology, analyzing selected case studies from Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Ukraine, Israel, and Nepal. It evaluates how tax laws, administrative systems, and policy measures function under conditions of conflict and institutional stress. The analysis is structured around four key determinants: constitutional principles of taxation, tax administration capacity, tax policy design, and the structure of the tax system. The findings demonstrate that tax reforms are effective only when supported by coherent legal frameworks and functioning institutions. Similar fiscal measures produced markedly different outcomes across the selected countries because their constitutional and institutional capacities differed. The study concludes that tax system resilience is primarily a legal-institutional phenomenon rather than merely a fiscal one. Sustainable wartime taxation depends on the interaction of constitutional safeguards, effective administration, balanced tax structures, and adaptive tax policies capable of maintaining fiscal stability under conditions of armed conflict.
Keywords:
tax system resilience, armed conflict, constitutional law, tax administration, legal certaintyReferences
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