Ability-to-pay Basic Principle Applicable Research

It refers to ability-to-pay is levied authority in accordance with the taxpayer’s actual affordability of tax, which is stronger ability to pay more tax, weak ability to pay less tax. It has to do with tax legal doctrine together build the substantive justice and formal justice.About the legal status of ability-to-pay principle, although there are many different points of view about ability-to-pay principle, in fact, many countries had already take ability-to-pay principle into the constitution, through the form of the law defined ability-to-pay as a basic principle of the tax law. In the judicial practice,there are many cases reflect the ability-to-pay principle in the other countries, throughout our country’s judicial trial,we need to define the legal status of ability-to-pay basic principle to protect the rights and interests of taxpayers.Ability-to-pay is a basis principle of tax law, it is the principle of equality in reflected in the constitution. Tax legal principle emphasizes the form of tax fairness, the ability-to-pay principle pays more attention to the essence of the tax fairness, they are two complement each other, should be place the same position in the tax law. However, from the current situation of our country, there are many opposition point of views, some scholars think the ability-to-pay can only as a kind of taxation ideas rather than the basic principle of tax law, because there are many limitations on the application scope of ability-to-pay principle, which cause it can’t play the basic principle of tax law role. While, there are many scholars don’t agree with this view. On the whole, our country still stay in theoretical research about the ability-to-pay principle, it didn’t deep into the practice application.This article starting from the general theory of ability-to-pay basic principle, through research its application on the tax legislation, law enforcement, judicial, legal interpretation, to clear its legal status as the basic principle of tax law. Ability-to-pay basic principle can solve some problems of tax system in some extent; guide the right direction and pattern of our country’s tax system reform. On the content of tax system reform, including income tax reform and the "structural tax reduction”, implement classification combined with comprehensive income tax system, establish a scientific and reasonable system of expense deduction, a price index mechanism of tax and other measures, to replace the business tax with a value-added tax, which will promote the reform of the "structural tax reduction".