Lipko О. Legal Regulation of Tax Mechanism: Content and Elements.

The thesis is devoted to the investigation of legal regulation of the structure and content of the tax mechanism. Based on the analysts of scholars' views, tax legislation of Ukraine and member states of the former USSR, a complex analysis of tax and tax-like payments has been made, similar payments (tax, charge, duty) has been distinguished from one another, elements of the tax mechanism has been studied and classified, changes to a number of Articles of the Tax Code of Ukraine has been proposed. The author's definition of a tax has been given. The impossibility of determining the charge mechanism has been stated. A tax is considered as a voluntary payment, therefore it can hardly be perceived as a form of restriction on the right to property or deprivation of property. The focus of attention is on the guarantees of the implementation of the principle of common approach to the establishment of taxes and charges, that is, to the determination of all the compulsory elements of a tax at the legislative level. Issues related to tlie departure from legal rules and to the absence of legal provisions for compulsory elements of the tax mechanism have been studied.