Research on the Ideas of Modern Chinese Tax System Reform (1900-1949)

Author: Xia Guoxiang
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-07-01
Features: This book attempts to systematically and comprehensively study the ideas of tax system reform in modern China. The choice of this research topic is mainly due to the following two reasons. First, the research topic has a clear practical significance. In recent years, the study of economic thought from 1919 to 1949 has become a major academic hotspot. Second, the research topic has high academic value. There are few academic achievements that can be referenced for this book, and the research has encountered many difficulties. Among them, the collection of materials and research methods are the two most challenging factors. First, the research topic requires mastering a large amount of historical materials. Second, in terms of research methods, first, it strives to use the historical materialist method to seriously analyze the causes of the emergence of important ideas from economic, ideological, political, and social aspects, without judging the predecessors by today's standards. Second, the research topic does not intend to write a pure chronological record or a pile of historical materials organized around famous figures. Finally, during the Republican period, Western fiscal theories had completely defeated traditional Chinese fiscal thought and dominated the field of Chinese economics. The analysis objects of this book involve tax system structure, tax management system, tax collection and management system, and the institutional elements of specific tax types. This book divides the ideas of modern tax system reform into three historical periods according to the changes of regime: the late Qing Dynasty, the Beiyang government, and the Nationalist government. Among them, the period of the Nationalist government is particularly rich in tax system reform ideas, and the full outbreak of the War of Resistance had a major impact on the process of tax system reform during this period, so it is divided into two stages before and after 1937. Thus, the book is structured into four chapters, discussing the ideas of tax system reform in these four stages. In terms of format, the book is organized along the timeline as the longitude and the main content of the tax system categories as the latitude, aiming to clarify the historical evolution of the ideas of tax system reform in modern China and reflect as much as possible the characteristics of tax system reform ideas in each historical stage. In writing, the book first adheres to a scientific and objective spirit, taking it as its mission to restore history; at the same time, it strives to uncover the distinctive ideas within it, in order to provide inspiration for today's reform practices.