TITLE:
Private Property and Constitutional Limits on the Taxing Power: An Overview of the Prohibition on Confiscatory Taxation in the Brazilian, German, Spanish, Argentine, and Mexican Legal Orders
AUTHORS:
Beatriz Milani Gimenez
KEYWORDS:
Prohibition on Confiscatory Taxation, Ability-to-Pay Principle, Minimum Subsistence, Brazilian Federal Constitution, Tax Equality (Isonomy)
JOURNAL NAME:
Beijing Law Review,
Vol.16 No.4,
December
9,
2025
ABSTRACT: This paper examines the constitutional prohibition on confiscatory taxation in Brazilian law as a limit on state taxing power. Using doctrinal and comparative analysis, it explores the principle’s connection to property rights, the ability-to-pay principle, and minimum subsistence. The study finds that this prohibition, while explicit in Brazil’s 1988 Constitution, is a common feature across the German, Spanish, Argentine, and Mexican legal systems, where it is protected either explicitly or implicitly through fundamental rights.