On The Relationship Between Taxation And Constitutionalism

The research is devoted to discussing taxation problems and constitutional development in China. It provides a new view for considering how to establish constitutionalism in China. Generally constitutionalism refers to two maxims, rule of law and limited government. To some extent, the latter forms a solid foundation for the former. Its Meanings are derived from the western nations. Their constitutional history shows that taxation played a key role in creating modern constitutionalism and shaping limited government. Constitutionalism, in this sense, cannot be made separately from taxation reform.In China, the significance and role of taxation within this constitutional polity, however, have long been ignored or, at best, had little attention paid to them. Studies illustrate that taxation, as the major revenue source for government involves not only individuals'private property rights, but importantly, connects with civil and political rights. At present, this ignorance along with the historical and current unreasonable taxation systems of China has caused serious impediments to making progress towards a constitutional government. How to curb the abuse of governmental powers and illegitimate actions so as to protect individual rights and develop economy is a hard yet decisive problem for China. This research tries to discover reasons why taxation historically led to constitutionalism, and by drawing on these reasons and the constitutional meanings of taxation, it suggests reforms in the legal and related systems to impose taxation. These would be essential and promising steps to foster growth of a constitutional government in China. It offers a constitutional understanding of basic taxpayers'rights on which the development of a limited government relies.