The Historical Origin Of The Legal System Of Western Property Tax

Property tax is the eldest of all taxes in human history; it came with the rise of privateownership and the establishment of country. The eldest property tax with recordedhistory might date back to approximately6000years ago, when people inMesopotamia (now Iraq) were imposed to pay tax with their food.4000years ago inEgypt, when Pharaoh Khufu built the biggest Pyramid, his government imposed akind of tax on the legacies of successors, to cover the expenses on the Pyramid.Throughout the history of western society, from Slave Society to Feudal Societyfollowed by Capital Society, property tax has been playing an important role in staterevenues. Property tax law system, same as other legal systems, is connected to thepolitical and economic background of a country. And property tax, as is agreed bymost academic, started as land tax, then transferred to real estate tax, and then slowlydeveloped into private property tax and legacy tax/gift tax. The eldest property taxwas land tax, which imposed on crops, farm tools and livestock. With theestablishment of cities and commodity economy, land tax was replaced by real estatetax. Soon after that came the Industrial Revolution, during which social wealthaccumulated and the gap between the rich and poor grew deeper and deeper. Duringthis time, legacy tax and gift tax were created to make up for the polarization ofwealth. In modern times, as new types of taxes were created, property tax graduallyfaded as the supplementary source of state revenues, but still, in some countries,played an important role in local government incomes.Property tax is a kind of tax that imposes on private property, thus was born with thefunction of balancing social wealth. Thereof, property tax is also known as “the RobinHood Tax”. In China, since the Reform and Opening-up in1970s, private property hasgrown rapidly with development of market economy, along with other issues andcontradictions. Social ranks are settled, so is social wealth. As the reform of incomedistribution system continues, property tax is taken into people’s vision for its bornfunction. However, the implementation of property tax here in China requires rigorous planning and consideration, as property tax is a brand new area for China. In westerncountries, property tax law has found its own place in the tax law system, and thereform in contemporary China can found its ancestors in the reform of westernsocieties.During the discussion on the property system among western countries, the authoremphasizes the changes of the roles of property tax played under different socialpatterns, from state revenues to balancing social wealth, and now a means ofproviding social service by local government, and pays extra attention on the functionof balancing social wealth and reducing the gap between the rich and the poor.Through the analysis on the economic and political background of property tax, theauthor comes up with the foundations of property tax. Then the author combinesprivate property protection with property taxation and comes up with the conclusionthat taxation on private property is to better facilitate the protection of private property.Finally, the author turns back to the current tax reform in domestic China; withreference to the historical and social background of China comes up with a fewsuggestions concerning the construction of property tax system in contemporaryChina.Most of the references of this article come from English literatures, articles, and cityarchives, which contains high value for its authenticity and originality, forming aunique agenda on the history of western property tax. Besides, this article is not solelyfocused on the history of western property tax, but rather a complex discussionthrough political, economic and ideological ways, which is another creation of thisarticle.