The Research On The Effective Control Of Tax Administrative Discretion In China

The importance of Administrative Discretion(AD) are being paid more and more attention nowadays. Though in China we have made substantial progress in general theory and practice of AD, there are still many things to investigate when it comes to the specific field of tax administration. Considering the importance of tax administration in modern administration, research in this field shows great value in both theory and practice.Tax Administrative Discretion (TAD) is that tax office and its officers, according to laws and by the principles of publicity, efficiency, rational and service, exercise authorities to manage tax imposing, including the decision of abstract administrative behaviors, the selection and usage of concrete administrative behaviors.TAD of China comes from general laws, which can be specifically divided into two categories. First is tax laws, such as Law on the Administration of Tax Collection(LATC), and second is other laws, such as Law on Administrative Penalty. Besides general characteristics of AD, TAD in China has its distinctiveness: varieties of discretion subjects, extensiveness of discretion scope, strong and enduring influence of discretion, changeable content of discretion.TAD of China can be divided into many columns according to the characteristics of administrative authorities, the content of LATC and the form of discretion. From concrete forms, it can be divided into the acknowledgment to conditions, characteristics and content of facts, the decision to abstract administrative behaviors, the selection of concrete administrative behaviors.TAD in China has its positive values: compensate flaws of current tax laws, improve tax administrative efficiency, accommodate huge differences among various economic regions in China. While on the other hand, it can also have negative impact: possibly harm the rights of different groups, possibly violate the spirit of tax law, possibly violate the principle of equality, possibly cause corruption among tax officers, possibly affect image of government. From practice, a few problems have shown up, mainly as following: Discretion subject is ambiguous; discretion authorities are unlimited; discretion process is not public; abuse of discretion is common while checks are weak. Many reasons, including both impersonal and personal, give rise to these problems.The application of TAD must be controlled effectively. For the principles of control, there are five: principle of legitimacy, principle of rational, principle of publicity, principle of efficiency, principle of service. For the measures of control, we need setup complete checking system, focusing on legal, internal and external auditing control. For the legal control, we should improve the planning, process, techniques and standardization of tax lawmaking. For the internal control, we should improve personal capabilities of tax officers, optimize discretion standard, intensify process control, keep our party's culture of integrity, ensure budget for local tax offices, improve internal audit. For the external control, we should encourage constant audits from judicature, people's congress, and from society.