From Discontent to Conflict: Tax Reform and Fiscal Protests in Italy since the 1970s

The Department of Financial Law and Financial Science cordially invites you to a guest lecture by Dr. Lars Döpking of the German Historical Institute in Rome, entitled:

“From Discontent to Conflict: Tax Reform and Fiscal Protests in Italy since the 1970s”

The lecture will explore the relationship between tax law, democratic politics, and the historical development of taxation.

Date and time: Friday, 16 October 2026, at 10:00 a.m.
Venue: Faculty of Law, Charles University, Room 38
Language of the lecture: English

Tax law and democracy are often at odds with one another. Whilst the law prioritises stability and coherence, the articulation of particular interests is perhaps the defining feature of politics. This is particularly evident in the case of tax reforms, when technical experts seize the opportunity to overcome long-standing irrationalities in the tax system, whilst politicians and interest groups seek to align these reforms with non-fiscal objectives in particular. In Italy, the result of this contradiction was a tax system which, since 1973, has consistently generated discontent and conflict; these ultimately contributed to the decline of the First Republic in the early 1990s and have shaped political developments on the peninsula ever since. This lecture provides an introduction to the history of the Italian tax state and discusses the extent to which a historical sociology of taxation can enrich legal scholarship and explain why certain tax reforms produce unintended effects and, ultimately, legal uncertainty.