Constitutionalism Of Taxation

Taxation involves civic property rights and liberty,so it needsto be bonded by constitution．In modern society,constitutionalism oftaxation is a breakthrough in construction of rule by law andconstitutional government,which is regarded as the first critical andinevitable step in building the countries with the rule by law andconstitution government in many countries．With the gradualestablishment of Socialistic Market-oriented Economy system in ourcountry,taxation plays more and more important role in societyeconomy and citizen lives,and the affinity between taxation andrights of citizen basic property and liberty will be increasinglyapparent．However,only one term about taxation is listed in thecurrent constitution,and it is prescribed as a fundamental obligationof tax payers. Hence,it is very vital to launch the constitutionalismof taxation in the process of building the country of socialism ruleby law and taxation constitutionalism. At the same time,research onthe taxation constitutionalism is an unshirkable arduous historicmission for scholars. It is of importance in perfecting constitutionlaw and taxation law,regulating the relationship between taxation andtax payers,protecting citizen private property right andtaxpayers'legal rights,guaranteeing national finance income,ruling the government expenditure,promoting the national politicalstability,economy prosperity and social development.This article is composed of three parts. The first part carrieson the basic theories about constitutionalism of taxation．It beginswith the elementary concept of constitutionalism of taxation,reviewsthe historical origin of taxation constitutionalism in the westerncountries and focuses on analyzing the process of taxationconstitutionalism in England,France and USA. Finally it concludesthat the constitutionalism system is the resource ofconstitutionalism of taxation. By analyzing the value of thetaxation constitutionalism,it demonstrates the significance oftaxation constitutionalism in every country. At the same time,forour constitutionalism of taxation reference,it studies interrelatedcontents of the constitutionalism of taxation in various countries.The second part analyzes the necessity of constitutionalism oftaxation．On the base of reality, through analyzing the lack ofconstitutionalism of taxation in our country and the reason of lack,it is an indisputable fact that there is no taxation term in ourconstitution. Studying further its phenomena and impacts of lack inconstitution proves the necessity of constitutionalism of taxationin our country. The third part puts forward the method which aims atperfecting constitutionalism of taxation and some constructivesuggestion．By the method of comparison and demonstration,on thebasis of interrelated contents about taxation terms in constitutionof many countries investigated,it testifies four principles asfollows. The first initial one:the principle of taxation legal；thesecond one:principle of taxation equity；the third one:the reasonabledistribution of taxation legislative power between the central andthe local governments；the last one:definition of basic rights items of taxpayers.In western countries,it is the Public Choice School whoserepresentative is Buchanan that carried on firstly the theory onconstitutionalism of taxation. The school raised the theory that thetaxation power should be limited and regulated by the constitution,and also developed the traditional theory about taxation. However,because constitutionalism construction in our country starts late,itis a very urgent task to develop and perfect the newly-formed andimmature constitutionalism of taxation. In recent years,a lot ofscholars in our country have started studying the constitutionalismof taxation and they have written some articles about it. Forexample,"Suggestions on Constitutionalism of Taxation in China"written by Professor Liu Jianwen,"The Theory on TaxationConstitutionalism"by Professor Wang Hongmao,"On Taxation inConstitution"by Wang Shitao etc. In the writings all the professorspoint out the importance of constitutionalism of taxation in thedevelopment of rule by law and constitution government,the lack oftaxation in constitution. Nevertheless,they have not made systematicstudy on the issues,and neither did the constitutionalism of taxationapproaches how to refrain government to impose taxes and to protectthe rights of taxpayers. The innovation of this article is that itanalyzes the lack of constitutionalism of taxation and puts forwardthe key items of it concretely starting with the external phenomenonof constitutionalism of taxation,adopting the way of comparison andpositivism,linking with the actuality of system of constitution andtax law in our country through the review of western history inconstitutionalism of taxation and sum-up of constitutionalism oftaxation in various countries.