A Study On The Slaughter Tax In Hubei Province During The Republic Of China(1915-1949)

Since modern times,various kinds of industrial and commercial taxes have risen up and become important sources of finance.The academic world pays more attention to bulk taxes and less attention to small taxes.The slaughter tax was a local tax.Although the slaughter tax had scattered tax sources and limited income,it was very important in the local finance in the period of the republic of China.Hubei province is a big agricultural province.The slaughter tax has contributed a lot to the local finance.After 1941,especially,the slaughter tax became one of the self-government taxes,and the slaughter tax had a high status in the county finance.Based on this consideration,this paper probes into the tax problems in Hubei Province during the period of the Republic of China from the two aspects of system and practice,revealing the achievements and restrictive factors of the tax,and at the same time providing a new perspective for the study of the history of local finance and taxation.At the end of the Qing dynasty,there were some provinces and cities to collect the slaughtering and slaughtering of slaughterhouses.In 1915,the Beijing government officially launched a nationwide slaughter tax.At different times,the central government formulated the rule of the slaughter tax,and Hubei also formulated the corresponding implementation rules according to the local conditions.The text of the tax law was constantly revised,but there was a corresponding continuity.The slaughter tax collection and management were gradually standardized in personnel selection,institutional set-up and tax administration.Because of the decentralization of tax sources and the problems in the tax system,the government was also seeking solutions to the difficulties in the tax collection.The cognition and reaction of the slaughter tax were different.The slaughter tax was facing the opposition of the merchant people from the day of the levy.The slaughter tax had many disadvantages,which made the businessmen and the people more troubled.As the main form of industry organization in the republic of China,the industrial and commercial trade association played an important role in maintaining the interests of the business community.Taking Wuhan Pork Trade Association as an example,this paper attempts to investigate the trade association’s actions and limitations in coordinating tax rates with the government,and then explains the influence of industrial and commercial organizations in the institutionalization of taxation.In addition,by examining the game process of the pork industry trade association and the government,this paper analyzes the complicated relationship among the officials.The slaughter tax was a small tax,but it still attracted high attention from all walks of life.Some scholars had made suggestions on improving the slaughter tax system and collecting management.The slaughter tax was related to people’s food.It was also involved about the real interests of the people.Some consumers made their own voices in the newspapers.The slaughter tax played a role as to service the economic and social development in the tax system of Hubei province.As a local tax,local finance was highly dependent on it.The abattoirs have even become one of the main sources of funding for education.Through the special investigation on the slaughter tax in Hubei province during the republic of China,we can put forward three conclusions.Firstly,we can know the relationship between government and business.Slaughter-tax payers were extremely common,including traders in the slaughtering industry,as well as households.The former had joined the chamber of commerce,trade associations and other organizations to form independent social forces.The tax affairs had some voice,but compared with other business groups,the strength was relatively weak.The slaughterhouse trade association and the meat trade association were protecting the rights and interests of taxpayers and actively reflecting the demands of the practitioners,which restricted the unlimited expansion of the government’s tax right.Secondly,the slaughter tax was of great importance in the local finance of Hubei province,especially the county finance.The slaughter tax was the main tax source of most counties in the province.Thirdly,it is about the modernization of taxation system.In general,with the passage of time,the slaughter tax system in Hubei province has been gradually improved in the designing system,which has realized the modernization of the tax system to some extent.