An Consideration Of Ethical Foundation And Pirnciple About Levying Inheritance Tax In China

Economy，politics and culture have made great achievements since China’s reformand opening，but a series of social problems have come into being，which include theunfair distribution of wealth，the growing gap between rich and poor，the aggravatingpublic burden feeling.These problems require the government to take effective measuresto solve.The imposition of inheritance tax is a feasible and necessary measures，because inheritance tax owns the function of distributing social wealth fairly anerealizing social justice. At present， although domestic scholars on Chineseinheritance tax levy is numerous，most of them focuses on the politics，economics andjurisprudence.Study from the ethical perspective is rare.At present，inheritance tax has not been levied.From the perspective of ethics，thereexist many causes for this. First， traditional ethics affect the growth environment ofinheritance tax.Second，the traditional filial piety ethics has hindered the inheritance taxculture. Third， the weak tax credit consciousness increases the difficulty of inheritancetax levying.The Chinese traditional moral culture is not advantage to levying inheritance tax，but the current society in china has to face many problems，including the unevendistribution of wealth brought by the rapid economic development， the risingindividual rights consciousness brought by political democracy development.Theseproblems show that，China has the conditions of inheritance tax levying. The gapbetween rich and poor in China is increasing，and the Gini coefficient has alreadycrossed the internationally recognized warning line， and several times of tax reformafter the founding of china has owned deep function of tax. These are necessaryconditions of levying inheritance tax， and the enhancement in whole social democraticconsciousness provides corresponding provision for the inheritance tax levying.In theory， the ethics thoughts such as the between-generational justice， theintergenerational justice and the distributive justice provide moral basis for theinheritance tax in contemporary China.The between-generational justice denies theuneven wealth distribution，and the intergenerational justice denies the legitimacy ofunearned behavior in future generations， and the distributive justice denies thegovernment’s act of ommission in aspect of uneven wealth distribution.At present，it is very necessitous for china to correct inheritance tax，in ord torectify the deferred distribution of wealth between generations and in the generation，and to create a starting point for justice and opportunity fairness justice.At the same time，it could protect the taxpayer in aspects of rights and obligations about wealth，andpromote the unity of economic efficiency and social equity.On the basis of such kind ethics， we think that it is necessary to levy inheritancetax. But it must follow corresponding ethical principles:The first is the unification offairness and efficiency principle. We should combine the economic efficiency of taxand the fair value adjustment of wealth.The second is the unity of rights and obligationsprinciple. We should respect the taxpayer’s tax right and consider taxpayer’s socialobligations.The third is selfish and he unified principle.We should combine thetaxpayer’s self interests and its social interests together.