Tax Secrecy: the Security of the Past, the Shadow of Future

Dvojba između porezne vidljivosti i porezne povjerljivosti jedna je od »vječnih« poreznopravnih dvojbi. U okviru porezne povjerljivosti posebna se pozornost posvećuje institutu porezne tajne. Višeslojnost tog instututa ogleda se ne samo u isprepletanju s nizom drugih poreznopravnih instituta nego i u njegovu međudjelovanju sa širim društvenim vrijednostima i ciljevima. Dio rada posvećen mjestu i ulozi porezne tajne u odabranim, usporednim poreznopravnim sustavima osnova je zaključka o pojedinim markantnijim obilježjima i tendencijama vezanim s tematskim institutom. Analize u radu potaknute su nedavnim izmjenama porezne tajne u hrvatskom poreznopravnom zakonodavstvu, čemu je posvećen završni dio rada. Zaključno se upozorava na moguća ograničenja i (ne)željene učinke postojećeg normativnog modela.Two basic models of access to tax information are model of tax privacy and model of tax transparency. Recent changes of the Croatian General Tax Act which introduced the so-called model of tax publicity have actualised the contradiction between the two main models. Two research questions are the focus of this paper. The first one is to identify, on the basis of comparative material, the key trends and disputes in the concept of tax secrecy. In that vein, current Croatian model is consistent with the contemporary trends. The second research question is about dilemmas and contradictions that reveal certain structural problems. Taking that into account, tax publicity may be seen as one of the less important innovations in the Croatian tax system