The Research On The Land-Valued Tax In Chinese Territory Of Shanghai During The Early Period Of Nanjing Government (1933—1937)

Land-valued tax is a kind of tax collected according to the land price,which was carried out in western countries at the beginning of its birth.In 1866,land-valued tax was set up in Shanghai public concession,which was the first time to collect the tax in China and achieve good results.On the other hand,in view of the increasingly serious land problem in China,Sun Yat-Sen proposed to achieve the goal of "equalization of landownership" by levying land-valued tax.In 1930,the Nanjing National Government promulgated the land law,which established Sun Yat-Sen’s theory as a formal national system,providing a system basis for the implementation of land-valued tax in all over the country.The January 28 Incident in 1932 brought Shanghai into a serious financial dilemma.In order to save the financial crisis,the Shanghai municipal government decided to levy the land-valued tax.As for the choice of collecting areas,the land-valued tax can only be collected in Chinese Territory with low land price,but it can’t be successfully implemented in the prosperous Foreign Concession areas.In the formulation of the tax rate,the Shanghai municipal government adopts the single proportional tax instead of progressive tax or the hierarchical proportional tax,which reflects that the Shanghai municipal government pay more attention to the financial benefits rather than the social benefits of the land-valued tax.On the issue of tax reduction,the Shanghai municipal government tries hard to improve people’s willingness to pay the land-valued tax by reducing land dues and deed taxes.At the same time,the cadastral consolidation has encountered various difficulties.Firstly,the progress of land measurement has been slow due to the lack of the active cooperation of citizens.Secondly,the Shanghai municipal government is not only difficult to obtain accurate land price from the land sales contract,but also takes measures to estimate the lang price from low level,which greatly affects the effectiveness of landvalued tax collection.After the land-valued tax was formally levied in 1934,citizen groups have repeatedly petitioned the government to halve the housing tax.The Shanghai municipal government refused the citizens’ request because of the need to deal with the financial crisis,which affected the citizens’ willingness to pay land-valued tax.On the other hand,the foreign immigrant refused to pay the land-valued tax by the virtue of privileges granted by the unequal treaties.Although the Shanghai municipal government actively negotiates with the consuls of various countries,however,in view of the fact that the unequal diplomatic relations are difficult to change,all kinds of measures are ineffective.Due to the difficulties encountered in the process of collection,the actual income of land-valued tax was a drop in the ocean to the huge financial deficit of Shanghai.In view of the situation,the Shanghai municipal government issues bonds to raise funds for the reconstruction of the war zone.On the other hand,after The January 28 Incident,the urban administrative funds expanded rapidly,which affected the speed of Urban Renaissance and development,resulting in the slow rise of urban land price.The following economic crisis makes the real estate industry suffer a great impact,and the land price continues to fall.From the discussion and collection practice of land-valued tax,the financial governance of Shanghai municipal government will not only be restricted by the traditional burden and economic environment,but also encounter sovereignty dilemma and interest disputes.In a word,land-valued tax is indeed a better choice when local income is insufficient,since it is characterized by realizing income increment through urban development and contains inherent requirements for urban construction and economic development.However,the collection of land value tax not only requires the government to have the corresponding tax administration ability,but also needs the government to better reflect the intention of promoting urban development in fiscal expenditure.