Relation Of Administrative Responsibility And Criminal Responsibility Following Crime Of Tax Evasion

Crime of tax evasion not only legally conforms to constitutive conditions of tax illegal acts but also meets constitutive requirements for tax criminal acts, which states that crime of tax evasion possesses a dual legal nature that is different from other criminal acts. As far as its legal nature is concerned, tax evasion is not a simple criminal offense any longer. It is not only a criminal offense but also an administrative malfeasance. Therefore, when it comes to the concurrence of administrative responsibility and criminal responsibility following tax evasion, there has been a strong controversy on two aspects, whether the illegal act of tax evasion should deserve cumulative punishment or not and whether the actor of tax evasion should bear both administrative responsibility and criminal responsibility or not. Some scholars hold the opinion that this act is not only an administrative malfeasance but also a criminal offense, so people who committed the act should bear both administrative and criminal responsibilities in the meantime, and cumulative punishment could be adopted as a warning. While other scholars think that cumulative punishment violates the principle of "Sole Punishment for One Mistake" and it is unfair in the punishment for one who commits the act; and others believe it is more suitable to adopt the principle of limited cumulative punishment.The principle of limited cumulative punishment is adopted in our state. According to Seventh Amendment of Criminal Law, tax payers who have made a supplementary payment for taxes and late fee or have received administrative punishment won’t be investigated for criminal responsibility, except proviso clause. The problem concerning differentiation of administrative responsibility and criminal responsibility following tax evasion arises therefrom, i.e. when and under what circumstance people who committed the act should bear administrative responsibility or bear criminal responsibility, or bear both; if the one who committed the act has received administrative punishment from tax authority, whether previous administrative punishment he received could reduce corresponding fine for criminal punishment or not, and other problems. In order to complete the legislative system in our state, these issues need to be analyzed and discussed further.In addition, it is mentioned in the escape clause in Seventh Amendment of Criminal Law, whoever accepts administrative punishment could be exempted from criminal responsibility; whether it means that administrative punishment has become the preceding procedure of penal prosecution; in dealing with tax evasion cases, tax authority first performs administrative punishment, handling the act of tax evasion in advance; judicial authority will not able to investigate the actor’s criminal responsibility directly. There has been comparatively more disputes upon this in the circle. Some scholars consider judicial authority can’t be excluded; the case should be first transferred to public security organization instead of transferring it after being dealt with by tax authority first; other scholars consider that the case should be dealt with by tax authority and receive punishment therefrom, and then be transferred to public security organization if it’s in accordance with proviso clause in the Amendment. Escape clause for crime of tax evasion added in Seventh Amendment of Criminal Law arouses a wide range of disputes among theoretical world. Many scholars confirm that it’s in great contradiction with the principle of all people are equal before the Criminal Law, adaptability principle of crime responsibility and penalty, and the principle of legally prescribed punishment for specific crime, especially with the last one. What criminal responsibility the suspect should bear ought to be in compliance with what crime he committed. However, the escape clause in the Amendment is obviously deviating from this principle. The previous questions are going to be discussed and analyzed in this paper.