稅捐稽徵法之於稅法，有如行政程序法之於行政法，不僅規範行政程序，亦包括行政實體法。是稅捐稽徵法，不僅規範稽徵程序，亦規範稅捐債務法基本原理，可謂稅法總則。稅捐稽徵法作為
稅法總則，早在1976年10月22日公布施行，當時係規範人民與行政機關之行政程序法，在法治發展史具有重大意義。可惜行政程序法在2001年1月1日施行，稅捐稽徵法並未同步修訂，其正當法律程序與法治國家之要求，較之行政程序法嚴謹度多有落後，其後行政執行法、訴願法、行政訴訟法大幅翻新，稅捐稽徵法未能及時跟進；其後行政罰法之制訂，亦造成與稅捐稽徵法適用之困難。
稅法自古以來，即為人權中重要一部分，稅法富涵強烈憲法意識，與人民基本權關係最為密切。稅捐稽徵法制定之初，對此有所忽略。迨2010年1月6日公布施行稅捐稽徵法第一章之一「納稅人權利保護」，雖然從比較法觀點，僅就司法院憲法解釋有關稅法部分予少數彙整，過度抽象不明確；但既作為稅捐稽徵法開宗明義之規範，表明稅法原為憲法基本權之具體化，稅法規範人民與國家間主要債權債務及協力關係旨在確保納稅人源自憲法之權利，並應貫穿整部稅捐實體法，作為解釋適用基準。進一步工作，除立法外，有待行政，特別是司法予以具體化，並填補其法律漏洞。

The positioning of Tax Collection Act to tax law (hereinafter “TCA”) is just as Administrative Procedural Law (hereinafter “APL”) is to administrative law, the content of which involves not merely procedural but as well substantial matters. A TCA as such, including both procedural regulations as well as principles of tax obligations, shall thus be regarded as the general part of tax law. As general part, the Tax Collection Act, promulgated on October 22nd of 1976, the procedural law between administrative agency and people at the time, had played its significant role in the history of the development of law. Regrettably TCA was not revised in correspondence with the promulgation of Administrative Procedural Law on January 1st of 2001. The requirements concerning due process of law and rule of law in TCA in turn become comparatively less rigid than those of the APL. In the afterwards, TCA participated in neither dimensional revisions of Administrative Enforcement Law, Administrative Appeal Act, and Administrative Litigation Act, nor the enactment of Administrative Penalty Act, also causing difficulties in application.
Tax law has been the main part of human rights. It entails strong constitutional concern thus bears close relationship to basic human rights. Such concern however, has been neglected during the enactment of TCA. The promulgation of Chapter 1-1 “Protection of Taxpayers’ Rights” in TCA in January 6th of 2010, despite its abstractness that it aims only at a mere part of relevant judicial interpretations, as part of the TCA, serving as concretization of basic constitutional rights to regulate obligations both in payment and cooperative matters so as to protect taxpayer’s constitutional rights, and shall thus be the standard of interpretation and application. The task further on, in addition to legislature, also lies in the executive branch and especially the judiciaries, for its concretization to amend the lacunae.