<span>The function of tax law is to provide those rules under which a political community finances common institutions and goals. Meeting fiscal needs involves the distribution of scarce resources, and conflict may arise between private and public interests.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span><span>The rules are never neutral.&nbsp;</span><span>The meaning of the ability to pay principle, like other tax principles, is historically and culturally context-dependent, defined by a political community and, in our days, to a certain extent in an EU and global framework.&nbsp;&nbsp;The subject of this study is the meaning of the ability-to-pay principle in the Hungarian context.</span>