Taxation Justice in Chinese Income Redistribution System

Income redistribution has been a major subject of study in the field of economic law of China. Since the transitional period of economy, China has always been following the principle of “Giving priority to efficiency with due consideration to fairness”[1]. Under this guidance, China paid a lot of attention to the role of the market economy and has fully developed this function in its economic development. China has also successfully transferred the income redistribution system from the original “distribution-according to work” to the diversified system, which incorporates work and production elements. With the multiplied commercial opportunities and income sources brought by the economic globalization, the total income for the citizens of China has been growing rapidly that has ensured the ongoing and fast economic growth of this country.

However, along with the rapid growth of economy, the economic efficiency has been enhanced step by step and the issue of social justice has become a major problem. Since the economic reform in 1978, the market system has been playing a key role in income distribution for the Chinese people. The income gap in China has occurred and is increasing with a fast pace as the wealth distribution has become comparatively concentrated to certain communities since 2000 and the income gap has appeared. If no prompt actions are taken, it will lead to polarization between the rich and the poor that would test the limit of social withstanding. This will not only become an obstacle to restrict the long-term growth of economy and overall efficiency in China but it will also affect the stability of the society. The effective control and regulation of income distribution have become an important part for the economic growth and social stability for China.

 Being a part of macroeconomic policy of the government, taxation plays an extremely important role in the regulation of income among the Chinese people.

Firstly, taxation is closely related to the collective economy, administration and law system, as taxation is dominated by the state and guaranteed by the law. It realizes the regulatory policy for the preset target through the setting and regulation of taxation elements and the change of the income rate of the tax payers.

Secondly, the state has designed various tax items through which the tax system can regulate various aspects related to the income of the people, including the formation, consuming, accumulation and transference of income. Tax performs the most important function in regulating the income distribution and it covers a wide range of income- and distribution-related issues. The western countries have paid great attention to the regulation and control of the income distribution for the people and they possess rich theories and experience in tax regulation and control. In the United States and Germany, the income of people will be much different before and after taxation. In many countries, the Gini coefficient will be greatly decreased after taxation compared with the Gini coefficient before taxation. Taxation has been effective in regulating income distribution.

Finally, the function of taxation in China is represented in the form of state revenue. Since the 1990s, Chinese state revenue which gained from taxation has increased rapidly and this part of income played a positive role in financially supporting the financial policy of the state. However, the tax regulatory function, particularly the regulatory function of taxation for income distribution has not been fully exhibited. This phenomenon would serious restrict and damage the economic growth and social stability of China. The regulatory function of taxation in income distribution and further strengthening the function of taxation in income distribution are the issues to be faced and resolved by China in the economic development at current stage and in the future. Because of the limited sources of information on the subject of the research, our current research will be focused on the justice of income distribution. The research is mainly focused on the qualitative study, while there is no sufficient study and research related to the functions of taxation justice and income distribution. However, these functions are crucial to the economic development of China and the improvement of the Chinese taxation system. This research aims at the research on the improvement of the governmental macro-control policy in order to perfect the taxation system of China.



[1] Proposed first in «Social Justice and Social Security System Reform» in 1985



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