On The Taxpayer's Right To Learn The Truth

The right to learn the truth originates from the developed countries in the west. As one of the citizen's basic rights, it has been universally acknowledged by all the countries in the world by now. The taxpayer's right to learn the truth in the category of the right to learn the truth is the representation of the right to learn the truth in the field of the finance and tax law. In our country, the theory of research on the taxpayer's right to learn the truth has not been matured, the laws and regulations on the taxpayer's right to learn the truth have been incomplete, the legal support system of the taxpayer's right to learn the truth has not been established and the phenomena of infringing upon the taxpayer's right to learn the truth often occur; therefore, the research on the taxpayer's right to learn the truth is the pioneering work, which is of important theoretical value and practice for further enriching the theory of tax law and strengthening the protection of the taxpayer's rights.The paper is divided into four parts to study and discuss the taxpayer's right to learn the truth:Chapter 1 is the"Connotation of the Taxpayer's Right to Learn the Truth and Legal Foundation for Theory". It mainly deals with the connotation of the taxpayer's right to learn the truth and the foundation for theory and legal system of its occurrence and existence are analyzed and discussed.The author thinks that the taxpayer's right to lean the truth refers to the organic unity of the right of knowing or obtaining the laws and regulations on taxation, criteria for taxation, procedure of taxation, use of tax and provision of public products and services, etc. from the State Organs that the taxpayer enjoys and the relevant State Organs fulfilling the obligations of active opening or informing.The theoretical foundation for occurrence and existence of the taxpayer's right to lean the truth is as follows. One is the standard theory of right. In the relations between the right and the obligation, the right is the purpose, the obligation is the means, the purpose of setting the obligation in law lies in assurance of realization of the right; the right is the first factor, the obligation is the secondary factor, the right is the criterion and meaning for existence of the obligation; the obligation shall come from the right, serve the right and be subject to the right. The tax law only emphasizing the taxpayer's obligation for paying the tax does not conform to the spirit of the modern law. The right to learn the truth as the taxpayer's fundamental rights shall be represented and assured. In the relations between the right and the obligation, the citizen's right is the source for the State power and purpose and limit of allocation and operation of the State power and the exercise of the State power shall take the maintenance of the taxpayer's interests as the starting point and purpose and truly assures the realization of the taxpayer's rights including the right to learn the truth. The other is the theory of public products. The purpose of the taxpayer's tax paying is to meet his or her public demand and obtain the public products that the State provides. The purpose of the government collecting taxes is to provide the public products that the market cannot provide for the whole society, including the public information provided that the taxpayer needs and cares about. This is the responsibility and obligation of the government. The price that the tax that the taxpayer pays represents and reflects the fundamental interests of the taxpayer as the buyer; therefore, the types and supply of the public products that the government provides shall correctly reflect the public demand and the taxpayer's will.The foundation for the legal system of occurrence and existence of the taxpayer's right to learn the truth is as follows. One is the foundation of the constitution. Emphasis goes to deal with the theory of people's sovereignty, thinking that the fundamental premise for people to effectively exercise the State power is to completely and truly grasp the relevant national and social information, that is, knowing politics is the premise and foundation for participation in politics and discussion of affairs of government by various legitimate means and forms. Only in the premise that the right to learn the truth is supported can the people's sovereignty be truly realized. The other is the foundation of tax law. The taxation and legal relations between the State and the taxpayer provide the most basic criterion for tax law and theory for the taxpayer's right to lean the truth and the right to learn the truth that the taxpayer enjoys is the necessary requirement of the legal principle of taxation.Chapter 2 is the"Property and Elements of the Taxpayer's Right to Learn the Truth". It mainly analyzes and studies the property and elements of the taxpayer's right to learn the truth.As far as the property of the taxpayer's right to learn the truth is concerned, It is first a basic human right. Second, it is a right of the constitution because the foundation for the legal system of the taxpayer's right to learn the truth is the constitution and it has the features of the constitution right, that is, it is of foundation and premise in the right system and covers a wide range and is characterized as universality. Third, it is a composite right because it is not only a political right but also an economic right; it is the combination of the active right and the passive right; it has the property of both the public right and the private right; it is not only a procedural right but also an entity right. Fourth, it is a fundamental one of the taxpayer's rights and the premise and foundation for exercise of the other rights.Its elements include the right subject, that is, the taxpayer; the obligation subject shall involves the State Organs exercising the State power and influencing the taxpayer's interests such as legislative organ, administrative organ, judicial organ and enterprises and institutions undertaking some of the administrative functions as well as some specific individual persons; the object, that is, the information to be opened, and its contents shall include the following rights: right to learn formulation of laws and policies on taxation; right to learn the contents of laws and policies on taxation; right to learn the management activities of taxation and right to learn the expenditure and efficiency of tax.Chapter 3 is the"Present Situation and Defects of the Legal Support of the Taxpayer's Right to Learn the Truth". It points out that the defects of the current laws of our country on the support of the taxpayer's right to learn the truth are mainly represented in the following aspects by the analysis of the regulations on the taxpayer's right to learn the truth in the current laws of our country. The first is that the status of the taxpayer's right to learn the truth as the basic right in the constitution is not made clear, which causes the substantive defect of the protection mechanism of the taxpayer's right to learn the truth and makes it difficult to be realized due to lack of the criteria of the constitution. The second is that the legal system and legislative system on the support of the taxpayer's right to learn the truth are incomplete. The regulations on the support of the taxpayer's right to learn the truth are not systematic, the grade of the legislative effect is low, the relevant legal systems are not uniform and there is no matching and connecting one on the one hand; the legislative system of administrative authorization in which the legislative right and the administrative right are centralized causes the lack of rigidity of the tax law and people's doubt about the quality of the tax law. The third is that the contents of the support of the taxpayer's right to learn the truth are incomplete, the higher-level taxpayer's rights to learn the truth such as right to learn formulation of laws and policies on taxation and right to learn the expenditure of tax and efficiency, etc. are in the blind area of protection. The fourth is that the remedial system of the support of the taxpayer's right to learn the truth is incomplete. The reasons are as follows. First, it is the lack of the constitution lawsuit. Second, the examination system of the taxation in violation of the constitution is incomplete. Third, the administrative lawsuit system is incomplete. Fifth, the contradictions between the taxpayer's right to learn the truth and the other rights have not been resolved. They mainly refer to the contradiction between the national administrative power and the taxpayer's right to learn the truth, contradiction between the taxpayer's right to learn the truth and the national right to confidentiality and contradiction between the active right and the passive right.Chapter 4 is the"Construction and Perfection of the Legal Support System of the Taxpayer's Right to Learn the Truth of our Country". It presents the suggestions on strategies of building the legal support system of the taxpayer's right to learn the truth, thinking that the multidimensional support mechanism of the taxpayer's right to lean the truth shall be built from all the aspects such as legislation, administration and judicature.In the legislative support, first, the taxpayer's right to learn the truth shall be supported in the constitution. The taxpayer's right to learn the truth shall be regarded as one of the basic taxpayer's rights in the constitution and the most fundamental and powerful support shall be given to the taxpayer's right to learn the truth in legislation. Second,, the legal system of protection of the taxpayer's right to learn the truth shall be built and perfected, for example, formulate the basic law on taxation and revise some relevant legal systems such as Budget Law and Privacy Act, etc. In the administrative support, the key is to build and perfect the administrative open system, formulate the administrative procedural law and governmental information open law, assure the taxpayer's right to learn the truth and increase the governmental transparency. In the judicial support, first, the constitution lawsuit system of the taxpayer's right to learn the truth shall be built. It is thought that it is the best choice of determining the constitution lawsuit model to build the constitution lawsuit model combining the constitution committee and the people's court. Second, the tax administrative lawsuit system shall be further perfected. The experience of the developed countries shall be taken for reference, the taxpayer's lawsuit system shall be built and the range of the taxpayer's right of action shall be expanded.