Annotation

The article examines the extent to which the principle of taking actual ability to pay into account limits the presumption of solvency of a minor owner in property taxation. It shows that Russian law, while formally recognising the child as a taxpayer, does not offer a coherent model capable of preserving the individuality of the tax obligation, taking into account the minor’s actual lack of economic autonomy and avoiding the unstructured transfer of the tax burden to legal representatives. The paper argues that the current regulation reproduces an internally inconsistent construction, which is aggravated by the new enforcement mechanism against the legal representative’s property, by the design of property tax deductions for large families and by the absence of special safeguards in the constitutionally sensitive sphere of housing and childhood. Reference to foreign models makes it possible to identify several ways of addressing the issue, including direct relief for minor owners, age-based exclusion from ordinary housing-related taxation, protection of the principal residence and universal mechanisms for mitigating excessive property tax burdens. The article concludes that in the face of such diversity of approaches Russian law cannot remain in a state of uncertainty and patch the problem through isolated solutions, since this undermines trust in regulation and prevents the tax system from being aligned with the constitutionally significant goals of protecting the family, childhood and the right to housing.