Section iiTaxesYesGenerateAndDevelopment
Taxes, as a distributional relationship, are not always available, as are other distributional areas, but are the product of a period from the development of human society to a certain historical stage. As a historical context, tax revenues have gone through a process of development from nothing to nothing, from simplicity to complexity, from premature to mature. “taxes are completely absent from the previous clan society, as angus said. But now we are very familiar with it. A study of tax generation and development has helped us to understand more deeply the interrelationship between taxation and the state, tax and economy。
Conditions for tax generation
The emergence of any economic sphere depends on certain objective conditions. Tax generation also requires some objective preconditions. In general, the generation and existence of taxes depends on four conditions, namely, surplus products, private ownership, social public needs and state public authority。
(i) the presence of surplus products is a material condition for tax collection
The objective requirement that social goods must first be used to compensate for the material and living costs of production is the need to maintain simple reproduction, otherwise production cannot continue. Taxes, as a form of distribution of social reproduction, can be derived only from the remaining part of the social product, i. E., the remaining part of the product, after deduction of compensation for material and living labour. There can be no tax generation in situations where productivity levels are extremely low and social products can only provide for human survival without any surplus. As a result, the emergence of surplus products provides a material basis for tax generation and is a prerequisite for tax generation and existence。
In terms of historical development, productivity is extremely low in the primitive societies, and people can survive only by working collectively and sharing equally the fruits of their labour. By the end of the primitive society, social products had gradually increased and surplus as productivity developed, providing material conditions for tax generation. This does not mean, however, that the emergence of surplus products leads to tax revenues. Taxes are generated only after the emergence of surplus products and a long process of development。
(ii) private ownership is an economic condition for tax revenue
The political power of the state is the upper echelon, while taxation is an economic phenomenon and must have an economic base. If land, property, etc. Are not privately owned but are directly occupied by the state, i. E. The state can directly dispose of the land, property, etc., there is no need to use tax forms to generate income. On the other hand, if land property, etc., is in private possession or ownership of business and products, the state, in order to obtain a fixed income to meet the related needs, must pay a tax on the owner or operator of land and property, i. E., only if the economic conditions such as the existence of a private property regime exist in society will the tax be generated. Of course, it is not the emergence of private ownership that generates taxes, which depend on other conditions。
In terms of historical developments, in the middle of the barbarian age, the first major social division of labour followed by the improvement of labour tools, which led to gradual changes in clan systems. The emergence of livestock can be followed by domestication and the care of herds requires only individual families. With regard to agriculture, when metal tools are available, individual households are also able to undertake farming. As a result, large-scale collective production, which used to be based on large clans or clans, was gradually replaced by individual production based on family units. Labour products and tools have also become private property of individual families. In particular, with the further development of productivity, a second social division of labour has emerged — the separation of handicrafts and agriculture — which has facilitated the development of exchanges and accelerated the formation of private institutions. The development of the division of labour and trade has gradually undermined the commonality of production and occupation and has led to a gradual predominance of private ownership. After the creation of the state, the state is required to earn fiscal revenues, while the system of private property exists in society, and property is privately owned and not in the possession of the state, at which point the state is obliged to use coercive means to exercise control over a part of private property, i. E. To acquire a part of property by means of taxation。
(iii) social public needs arise as a social condition for tax revenue
Taxes are essentially designed to meet the public needs of society. The basic unit of the original society is the clan organization, which, with the development of the clan organization and the emergence of surplus products, has gradually emerged in areas of common interest and public affairs other than productive activities, such as the regulation of disputes between clan tribes, the declaration of war and hysteria, religious ceremonies and irrigation. These activities are partly social and partly religious. This social public need is an objective need of human society, a common need of its members, not of an individual or group. Public needs are realized through the consumption of public goods, which are non-exclusive and non-competitive, so it is not possible for public needs to be met by units or individuals, but by the state as the social regulator. Under private conditions, social goods are privately owned and state bodies and permanent personnel do not directly engage in productive activities or create social wealth. Thus, in order for the state to organize public services and provide public goods, it is necessary to draw on the work of members of society. The transfer of part of the social product from private to state must take the form of a compulsory levy, i. E. A tax. Social public needs are thus generated as a social condition for the generation of taxes。
(iv) establishment of public state power as a political condition for the generation of taxes
The establishment of public state power provides political conditions for the generation of taxes. After the emergence of the state, the public power of society requires a system of compulsory institutions, including administrative bodies, the army, prisons, courts, etc. These state institutions and permanent public officials manage public affairs at a cost of material resources, but do not directly create social wealth. Thus, only public power in the hands of society can be demanded. Thus, the creation of public power provides the state with a compulsory right to tax. The political power of the state is a political condition for the collection of taxes by the state, and the formation of political power and public power makes it possible to generate taxes。
The generation of taxes depends on the above four conditions. These four conditions are mutually reinforcing and mutually binding. Only when four conditions exist and work together will tax arise as a form of distribution under specific historical conditions. We can understand the way taxes are generated by figure 8-1。
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Figure 8-1 experiences with tax revenues
Ii. Relevant doctrine from western taxation
Western tax theory does not deal directly with the generation of taxes, but begins with the basis for tax collection and examines why they exist. Understanding the existence of western taxation is important to our research into the economy, tax relations with the state and the social attributes of taxation。
Since the 17th century, western scholars have explored the issue from different perspectives, resulting in many doctrine, summarised in the following ways。
(i) public need to say
This doctrine was first introduced by k. Lock of the german civil service in the 17th century and j. Bodin of france, also known as the “public welfare word”. According to the doctrine, the function of the state is to meet public needs and promote social welfare, which requires expenditure, while taxation is a material condition for the fulfilment of state functions. Thus, in order for the state to fulfil its functions and meet the public needs of society, it must levy taxes. There can be no revenue generation without public needs. “a rental tax shall not be levied if it is not for the public needs of the public welfare, and if so, it shall not be justified, and must therefore be justified by the public needs of the public welfare
The need for the public to say that it is based on social public needs and the promotion of social welfare is of some progressive significance under the historical conditions of the transition from a feudal to a capitalist economy in europe. This doctrine has also been strongly advocated by mediocre economists of the nineteenth century。
(ii) exchange
The doctrine began at the beginning of the capitalist economy in the eighteenth century, and was referred to as the doctrine of profit, price or trade, mainly on behalf of the mercantilist hobbes, the classical economist adam smith and prunton. This doctrine is based on a liberal view of the state, which considers that the state and the individual are separate and equal entities, that taxation is the compensation that the government receives for the benefits it provides to the people; and that people pay taxes for the benefits they derive from government services. Government taxation is therefore intended to protect the interests of the people, or tax collection is an exchange between the state and the people. Adam smith had pointed out that the smaller the scope of government functions, the less taxes the better, and that the state should set the tax standard in terms of the amount of each person's benefit。
The idea of the exchange is rooted in the individualist philosophy of capitalism, which favours the taxation of the beneficiaries, demands a general tax, abolishes tax-exempt privileges and has a certain positive effect on the development of the capitalist economy and the consolidation of bourgeois rule. However, it would be incorrect to introduce a commodity exchange into tax revenues, which were considered to be contractual equivalents given by individuals to the state; tax revenues were not simple exchanges; the size of the benefits that the people benefited from the state could not be measured, let alone equivalents。
(iii) sacrifice
The sacrifice came in the nineteenth century and was represented by french economist sayy, british economist muller and well-known british financial scientist bastapur. According to this doctrine, taxation is a compulsory levy on the state and a sacrifice to the people. Says was the first to suggest that "the rent tax is a sacrifice aimed at preserving social and social organizations". Müller developed say's sacrifice and put forward an equal sacrifice perspective based on the taxpayer's ability to pay taxes. Bastebour further elaborated on mueller's equal sacrifice, saying that the introduction of the principle of equal sacrifice was only another manifestation of the principle of equal capacity; that equal capacity meant equal capacity to bear the burden of sacrifice; and that only taxes that maximized social welfare were the lowest for all taxpayers。
(iv) insurance statement
The representative of the insurance claims is theiers of france, who considers that “the people pay taxes in proportion to their national interests, as does the insurance company's insurance contributions in proportion to the amount insured. The doctrine compares the state to the insurance company, and the people pay taxes as if the insured paid contributions to the insurance company。
Insurance claims confuse taxation with the nature of insurance. Taxes are compulsory and there is no automatic link between them and the enjoyment of the national interests of the people. People suffer losses, the state is not entitled to compensation, and even less can they resist paying taxes on this ground. The insurance policy is a contractual relationship, and the payment of premiums is a prerequisite for the benefit of compensation. Insurance is voluntary and not compulsory。
(v) obligations
The duty doctrine originated in the tax sacrifice advocated by a number of british scholars in the nineteenth century, and was further refined by wagner of the german school of social policy. According to the obligation, it is the function of the state to defend the interests of the entire population, whose financing must come from the general population and is therefore a mandatory obligation, not a moral one. The compulsory and non-remunerated nature of tax revenue is introduced by the duty doctrine and contributes to the development of tax theory. Under the social conditions at the time, german capitalism had lagged behind britain, and faster development required state intervention and protection. That is why the social policy schools that claim that tax is neither an exchange of interests nor a premium paid, but rather a duty of the people, dominate in germany。
