Legislative Configuration Of Inheritance Tax In Our Country

Inheritance Tax is the tax revenue, which comes from the tax imposed on the inheritance (the estate leaved behind after the citizen's death). The legislation of Inheritance Tax is a precondition for levying Inheritance Tax. Under the present condition in our country, the legislation of Inheritance Tax is inevitable and possible, which can shorten the gap between the rich and the poor and ease up the social conflicts. Now it is time for the legislative, finance and tax revenue department to study, formulate and implement Inheritance Tax Act because the imposition of Inheritance Tax has been already provided with the increasing maturity in economy, legislation, mentality and the collection and management of tax revenue. Before the promulgation of Inheritance Tax Act, although many researchers have extensively discussed many questions about it, the discussions only concern with some superficial problems on it and leave a theoretical gap about elaborating systematically . Inheritance Tax. This paper attempts to fill this gap by comparatively studying Inheritance Tax legislation in some foreign countries and examining some questions concerning Inheritance Tax legislation in our country.This paper consists of three parts. Part I is a general survey of Inheritance Tax. At the beginning of this part, the historical evolution of Inheritance Tax is examined and the characteristics of Inheritance Tax are summed up. Then by analyzing all kinds of views about the theoretical basis of levying Inheritance Tax, the author draws a conclusion that commonweal is the theoretical basis of levying Inheritance Tax in our country at present and justice and efficiency should be our ultimate goal of Inheritance Tax. Finally it is pointed out that the significance of levying Inheritance Tax in the fields of politics, economy and diplomacy in our country at the present time.Part II is a systematic study of Inheritance Tax, which is the core of this paper.First, by comparing the characteristics of Estate type, Inheritance type and Mixed type, the author concludes that Estate type is the most suitable type for our country. Second, by comparing and analyzing Inheritance Tax legislations in some foreign countries, the author gives a suggestion about the formulation of some items of Inheritance Tax in our country such as taxpayers, levy scope, deduction items, remission items, tax rate and so on. Finally, the author points out that the taxpayers of Inheritance Tax in our country should be heirs; the levy scope should be consistent with the inheritance defined in the Inheritance Law; the tax rate of Inheritance Tax should be moderate. Finally, by comparing the merits and demerits of four patterns of Gift Tax, the author holds that Chinese Inheritance Tax had better exist side by side with Gift Tax..Part III discusses the collection and management system of Inheritance Tax. By drawing advanced experiences from abroad and taking the situation of our country into consideration, the author mainly discusses the feasible formulations of the declaration of tax, the assessment of inheritance, the forms of paying taxes and penalties in our country. The author holds that Inheritance Tax in our country should adopt the system of self-declaration of taxpayers and the system of bulletin about declaration report in order to supervise taxpayers to declare correctly.. The time limit of paying Inheritance Tax is six months. The value of inheritance should conform to the standards of current prices of the market. Our country should establish the special evaluation institution equipped with well-qualified personnel. In principle, Inheritance Tax should be paid in cash one-off. It also can be paid with equivalent goods. In addition, taxpayers can apply to a deferred payment. It should be clearly stipulated that Inheritance Tax belongs to the tax revenue of our central government. It is also stressed that severe punishment is propitious for defending the sanctity of the tax revenue.