As a citizen, why should I pay taxes? This is often a seemingly superficial problem. Our society always advocates "paying taxes is glorious" and "paying taxes according to law is the obligation of every citizen", but intentionally or unintentionally avoids the key question "why pay taxes".
From the ancient slavery society in China, where "all over the world, is the land of kings, the land of kings, the land of kings?" It became a matter of course for the emperor to collect all kinds of taxes and services from his subjects to meet his own needs of enjoying and ruling the country. The tax levied on ordinary people is one-way, compulsory and compulsory, and the emperor and his huge state machine enjoy the tax right unconditionally. The relationship between taxpayers and state machines is the relationship between tribute and worship.
In modern democratic countries, political power comes from citizens' elections, and the elected government manages the country on behalf of all citizens. Tax is still the most important source of government revenue to maintain government expenditure and support the normal operation of the government. As a compulsory contribution or distribution of individual citizens and corporate bodies to government revenue, tax actually depresses the disposable income of taxpayers to meet the needs of government expenditure, but this is required by the overall interests of taxpayers. This overall interest should be reflected not only in the public services and products provided by the government, but also in the government's participation in the redistribution of social wealth through a good tax system, so as to correct the unfair distribution of wealth caused by market operation or other reasons and avoid the violent social conflict caused by the polarization between the rich and the poor.
This recognized modern tax principle involves two key issues, one is the relationship between taxpayers and the government, and the other is the relationship between tax system and justice.
The relationship between the government and taxpayers is the relationship between serving and being served, not the relationship between ruling and being ruled. Generally speaking, the actions of officials at all levels should make taxpayers feel that I pay taxes to enjoy the services provided by the government, rather than asking people to stand on my head and show off. The services that the government should provide are nothing more than two aspects. The first is to protect the personal and property safety and freedom of behavior of every citizen, and not to be harassed by anyone or any organization without reason. Dostoevsky said in his book "Teenagers": "I pay taxes to the society, so that I will not be stolen, beaten, killed, and no one dares to ask me again." The second is to provide citizens with a good environment for survival and development. Duran, when talking about the taxation in ancient Athens in Greek Life, said that the Athenians in the golden age forgave the harsh demands of the country because the country gave them unprecedented opportunities for development. Undoubtedly, broad development opportunities must be based on security. From this point of view, although Athens more than 2,500 years ago was far from a profound tax theory, as the first democratic society in human history, the nature of the government serving the people is clear and wise, because her people can feel the negative protection and positive development opportunities provided by the government-the latter not only requires the society to have extensive freedom and extensive participation rights, but also requires the development of public products such as education, culture and its facilities. In contemporary democratic countries, security protection and development opportunities are clearly demanded by every citizen as his own right.
Therefore, the state provides every citizen with adequate legal protection and public goods to ensure that every citizen enjoys a wide range of rights. In return for this service, it is natural for citizens to consciously assume the obligation to pay taxes, and their rights and obligations should be consistent. Failure to pay taxes should be condemned by morality and sanctioned by law, just like being a "passenger who evades tickets".
The so-called tax consciousness is actually a complete combination of rights and obligations, while the tax consciousness in China usually only emphasizes that citizens should pay taxes, which does not mean that citizens should enjoy rights. The word difference reveals the great difference in social structure and concept. The taxpayer's consciousness reflects the truth that citizens spend money to buy government services, and simply emphasizes the tax-paying consciousness, but it reflects a social relationship pattern that is no different from that of Sogo and Neigong. Taxpayer's consciousness is the basis of citizen's consciousness, but there is an umbilical cord between taxpayer's consciousness of no right to pay taxes and the concept of "the world is king"
It is necessary for the government to levy taxes based on the taxpayer's consciousness, without considering the incomplete tax consciousness. But for those who pay for it, there are both problems of cost and whether the tax burden is distributed fairly among all people and all walks of life. Besides meeting the financial needs, the government should also participate in the redistribution of social wealth through taxation, which also involves justice. A good tax system can not only minimize the cost of people buying government services, but also correct the unfair distribution of wealth; A bad tax system has increased the burden on the people and aggravated the unfair distribution.
Adam Smith put forward four principles of excellent tax system: "individual tax paying ability, certainty, convenience and economy", which has long been the legal cornerstone of modern tax law. "Personal tax payment ability" means that the tax amount must be determined on the basis of the taxpayer's own affordability, which reflects fairness and does not allow tax overpayment or tax underpayment. "True" means that there must be a certain legal basis for taxation, so that taxpayers can clearly know what to pay, how to pay it, and what institutions have the right to levy taxes, so as to avoid arbitrary collection and extortion by taxpayers. "Convenient" means simple tax payment procedures. "Economy" requires that the cost of tax collection should be minimized, so as to avoid tax loss caused by too many tax collectors, excessive wages and expenses, corruption, self-enrichment and arbitrary collection, and make the people pay more than the national income. These points mainly affect the level of people's burden and the fair distribution of social wealth. The most direct impact on the judiciary is how to determine the tax amount according to the individual's ability to pay taxes. At present, taxes in any country include indirect taxes and direct taxes. Indirect tax is a value-added tax levied on consumer goods. Everyone has to pay a tax every time he buys consumer goods. For consumer goods that are suitable for consumers' ability to pay taxes and can correct unfair distribution, ad valorem rather than quantity is levied, that is, high taxes are levied on high-grade goods and low taxes are levied on popular and civilian daily necessities. Direct taxes mainly include income tax, inheritance tax and gift tax. Based on the individual's ability to pay taxes, the tax method that can restrain and correct the unfair distribution of wealth is graded progressive tax, while regressive tax deviated from the individual's ability to pay taxes and aggravated the unfair distribution.
The tax system in western countries is mainly based on graded income tax. The greater the wealth base, the higher the tax rate, so the richer the tax, which will help curb the polarization between the rich and the poor and overcome the excessive concentration of resources caused by the market economy. China implements a tax system with turnover tax as the main body, and the proportion of income tax has always been lower than that of turnover tax, which greatly weakens the function of tax to adjust the allocation of market economy resources and curb polarization; In the collection of indirect taxes that will eventually be passed on to every consumer, developed countries have implemented ad valorem taxes, imposing high taxes on high-end products that only high-income people can care about, and imposing low taxes on the daily necessities of the public, thus reducing the indirect burden of low-income people. Although China imposes high taxes on high-grade goods to a certain extent, at the same time, "the tax on necessities such as salt is regressive tax", which means that some indirect taxes in China have the nature of increasing the burden on low-income people and deepening their living difficulties. This is the nature of postal charges that have repeatedly increased in price in recent years. Third, in developed countries, taxes such as inheritance tax and gift tax are not levied to increase fiscal revenue, but to curb unearned gains and correct injustice. In Rawls' words, it is to "gradually and constantly correct the mistakes in wealth distribution and avoid the fair value and fair and equal concentration of power that are harmful to political freedom." Impose a high tax for this. However, China has not implemented high inheritance tax and gift tax. Not to mention the fact that China's combination of power and money has benefited the rich countless times. As far as the current tax system is concerned, it is not an exaggeration to say that China is now a paradise for the rich. The next feature of the current tax system provides evidence for this judgment. Fourthly, the tax levied on farmers in China is poll tax. /kloc-In the 8th century, Hume pointed out that "poll tax is a kind of extortion". See you later, Adam. Smith also pointed out that poll tax is either arbitrary, uncertain or completely unfair; In countries that do not pay attention to the welfare and safety of the bottom of society, poll tax is extremely common (5). From the18th century to the present, it is a common view in tax law circles to regard poll tax as the most unfair. Developed countries not only abolished poll tax long ago, but also declared it illegal. In China, Adam was not the only one who taxed farmers. The arbitrariness and unfairness of Smith's criticism are combined, and the reality that money and power are often integrated in rural areas of China also makes the rich have both the means and the power to pass on their due taxes to the poor, and even rob the poor to enrich themselves, thus forming an upside-down pattern of "robbing the poor to help the rich".
Laws are used to solve problems, and laws that cannot solve problems are not good laws. Legalists in our country always ignore this point. Outdated laws are like dinosaurs, which are doomed to perish. A perfect market rule contributed to its death.