Abstract
Art. 8, par. 1, of law n. 23/2014 empowered the government to revise the administrative tax penalties system in order to better match the principle of proportionality. Under this principle, the type and the severity of the penalty shall reflect the seriousness of the damage that the misconduct is capable to cause to the legal value that the penalty has the purpose to protect. It is controversial if art. 10, par. 3, of the taxpayer charter is able to prevent the punishment of "substantive" offences which, on a case by case analysis, and taking into consideration all circumstances of the misconduct, show no harm to the legal value that the related penalties are intended to protect, i.e. no harm to the complete and timely collection of taxes. The reform recently enacted failed to clarify the scope of this provision, nevertheless it undoubtedly increased the level of compliance of the administrative tax penalties system to the principle of proportionality.