I. Taxation Legalism Taxation Legalism, also known as taxation legalism or taxation statutory principle, means that taxation must be levied in accordance with the law, that is, without a legal basis, the state cannot levy taxes at will, and "citizens cannot be required to pay taxes". Tax legalism is the principle of the correct exercise of tax power, the essence of tax legal thought and the core content of tax legalism. It was first produced in Britain, and its contents include the following four aspects:
1, legalism of tax elements
Legalism of tax elements, derived from legalism of crimes in criminal law, means that all the contents of tax elements, including collection procedures, must be determined by law, especially through legislation or approval by parliament. For example, as stipulated in Article 1 of the US Constitution, the taxation law must be proposed by the House of Representatives; Article 34 of the French Constitution states: "Taxation must be prescribed by law"; Article 84 of the Japanese Constitution stipulates: "The collection of new taxes or the change of existing taxes must be determined by law".
2. Clarity of tax elements.
Clarity of tax elements means that in laws or authorized administrative regulations, all the provisions that constitute tax elements and tax collection procedures must be clear without ambiguity, and administrative organs are not allowed to have discretion over tax laws themselves. Tax discretion can be divided into several different forms. The first is litigation discretion. The tax authorities have extensive rights to decide whether and when to bring a lawsuit against those who violate the tax law. The second is the discretion to formulate policies. The legislature authorizes the tax administration to formulate tax policies, generally because of the uniqueness and professional and technical considerations of tax issues. The third is the discretion to choose the way of behavior. There is generally legal control over the determination and exercise of discretion. For example, the Administrative Procedure Law of the United States stipulates that the court has the right to abolish arbitrary, arbitrary and abusive administrative acts.
3, the principle of legality
The principle of legality means that the tax administrative organ has neither the freedom of tax exemption nor the freedom of non-taxation within the scope that the tax elements (i.e. tax conditions) are fully satisfied, and it must levy taxes in strict accordance with the elements and steps stipulated by law.
4, the principle of procedural guarantee
The principle of procedural guarantee means that taxation and taxation rights must be exercised through appropriate procedures, and tax disputes must be resolved through legal and fair procedures. For example, the legislation and levy of the new tax bell must pass the parliament, and the changes of tax items and tax rates must have corresponding laws.
II. Tax Fairness Tax Fairness means that the tax burden must be distributed fairly among citizens, and the status of citizens must be equal in all kinds of tax legal relations. Its contents include the following aspects:
1, fairness principle or neutrality principle. That is to say, it is required to give the same treatment to those who are in the same situation in taxation, and to give different treatment to those who are in different situations according to specific circumstances.
2. The tax burden must be allocated according to the affordability. The standard of tax burden ability can be measured from three aspects: income and consumption behavior. The purpose of tax fairness is to ensure equality before the law and prohibit political, economic and social differences. But it does not prohibit all differences, but only all unreasonable differences. However, the tax fairness of western tax legalists only emphasizes the rationality of income distribution under the condition of fair competition. Due to the nature and characteristics of the capitalist system, the phenomenon of unfair social distribution and disparity between the rich and the poor is very prominent.
Iii. Tax Social Policy Doctrine Tax Social Policy Doctrine refers to the fact that the state takes tax as an important means to implement social, political and economic policies while raising fiscal revenue. Due to the relatively developed economy, high level of gross national product and national income, and simple state functions, the problem of ensuring fiscal revenue by taxation is generally not big in modern western countries. Now, more and more attention is paid to using taxation to adjust the economy and alleviate the unfair social distribution, and accordingly, a "social policy school" has appeared in the theoretical school of tax levy. In short, in western developed countries, especially in welfare countries, the financial function of taxation is gradually deteriorating, while its economic function, especially the role of social policy, is increasingly rising to a prominent position.
In the social policy application of taxation, for example, in Sweden, high inheritance tax is levied to limit the increase of private property, encourage people to work hard and not rely on the inheritance of their ancestors; In the United States, the role of tax in regulating economy and resource allocation has been fully valued and applied.
Iv. Substantial Taxation Doctrine Substantial Taxation Doctrine, also known as the principle of substantial income taxation, refers to that the tax authorities should proceed from the essence or facts of taxpayers, rather than just looking at the form and appearance, when examining whether the taxpayer's tax obligation is established, as well as assessing the taxpayer's tax capacity and determining the income. Substantial taxation is mainly in terms of income tax. In the attribution of income, problems often occur in the case of inconsistency between name and entity, form and substance.
There are two views in western tax law circles on how to determine the ownership of income. One is the theory of legal attribution, that is, the legal attribution of the taxable object is determined, and when the form and substance are inconsistent, the attribution is judged by substance. The other is the theory of economic attribution, that is, when the legal attribution of the taxable object is inconsistent with the economic attribution, the attribution of tax income should be judged by the economic attribution. However, from the perspective of tax administration, it is too difficult to determine the ownership by economy, and the theory of legal ownership seems more reasonable.
V. Free Financialism Free Financialism means that in countries with federalism or local autonomy, the constitution stipulates that local governments have the right to tax as an integral part of autonomy, and they can independently raise local government funds according to this function. This kind of free fiscal doctrine is also called "regulation taxation doctrine" or "local regulation doctrine", which is equivalent to tax legalism in national tax. The "regulations" here refer to local tax laws passed by local councils. However, free fiscal doctrine does not deny the taxation right of local governments, and should be based on the unified standards and scope stipulated by national laws. The concrete content of this kind of liberal fiscism is also of great reference significance for the design of the national tax-sharing system and the reform of the financial system.