| Due to the rapid rise in housing prices in recent years,the gap between the rich and the poor keeps widening.The issues caused by over-reliance on land finance in a few areas forced the central governments to take a range of regulating measures,one of which,it is important to note,was the implementation of real estate tax since January 2011 in two pilot cities: Shanghai and Chongqing.However,those pilot reforms were based on Provisional Regulations of the People's Republic of China on Real Estate Tax that was made and passed over 30 years ago in 1986.The Shanghai-Chongqing real estate tax pilot programs were initiated with high expectations including regulation of housing prices,income distribution and local fiscal revenue,but they failed to achieve the intended effects.After discussing the concept,characteristics,objectives and rationale of the real estate tax,this paper attempts an analysis of institutional inefficiencies of the real estate tax pilot reforms and their influences,based on the institutional efficiency from law and economics.It is concluded that those inefficiencies might be attributed directly to flaws in the institutional legitimacy,procedure and design,and to such underlying causes as ideas of governance,taxation,and equity.To enhance the efficiency of the future real estate tax system in China,this thesis proposes a path and several countermeasures including clarifying the nature of the real estate tax,redefining the goal of the real estate tax reform,promoting the tax system's “universality” by reinforcing the procedural legitimacy of the reform path,boosting the rationality of the real estate tax system design by ensuring the appropriateness of the tax burden,advancing the effectiveness of real estate tax collection and management by improving supportive regulations and implementation mechanisms.This thesis is outlined as follows.Chapter 1 introduces the research background and research significance,and briefly reviews literature on the general issues with the real estate tax,the Shanghai-Chongqing real estate tax reforms,and suggestions to the future real estate tax system in China.The technical route and research methods are also presented in this part.Chapter 2 is the concept of the real estate tax and its related theoretical basis.This part firstly introduces the meaning of the real estate tax,discusses its main characteristics,and then analyzes its goal and orientation as well as its theoretical basis followed by an introduction of the research perspective and method adopted in this paper: the method of law and economics and the basic principles of decision and choice in legal systems.Chapter 3 discusses institutional inefficiencies in Shanghai and Chongqing real estate tax reforms and their reasons.First,a brief analysis is made of the institutional background of Shanghai and Chongqing real estate tax reforms.Then,discussions and comparisons are made of the specific measures in Shanghai and Chongqing real estate tax pilot reforms so as to analyze the institutional inefficiencies of those reforms.Lastly,an analysis is made of the surface and deeper reasons for those institutional inefficiencies.Chapter 4 makes proposals to enhance the efficiency of the real estate tax system in China,based on the institutional efficiency from law and economics.After clarifying the nature of the real estate tax,redefining the goal of the real estate tax reform,this thesis proposes to promote the tax system's “universality” by reinforcing the procedural legitimacy of the reform path,to boost the rationality of the real estate tax system design by ensuring the appropriateness of the tax burden,and to advance the efficiency of real estate tax collection and management by improving supportive regulations and implementation mechanisms. |
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