商事活动理性化与国家税权的互动变迁研究

【作者】 陈国文；

【导师】 张怡；

【作者基本信息】 西南政法大学 ， 经济法学， 2008， 博士

【摘要】 国家权力与市场之间的关系是经济学、政治学和法学共同关注的论题,对这一问题的研究有许多不同的进路,本文选取商事活动与国家税权如何实现有效率的均衡这一进路展开研究。商事活动是以市场为取向、以货币为工具、以提供商品和服务为手段来谋取利润的营利性经济活动,在这一点上它与以自我消费为目的的家计经营相区别。商事活动是否成功要用获得的利润多少来评价,要确定利润的多少,就必须做到能够将经营活动中的各种交易条件以可强制执行的合同确定下来,并对各项成本进行准确地计算,这种以货币为单位进行成本—利润计算的工作就表现为商事活动中的理性,亦即可计算性或可预期性。这里所说的“理性”,主要是指韦伯理论中的“目的理性”,即对于既定的目的而言,什么手段最有效,一种手段对于实现既定目的越是有效,就越是理性化。商事活动从简单到复杂、从低级到高级、从早期的奢侈品贸易到工业时代面向大众市场的大规模生产,是一个理性不断提升的过程。在西方国家早期的商事活动中,商事主体主要是个人、家族和简单的合伙,由于奢侈品贸易能取得高额利润,因而无须进行准确的成本计算;由于无须向大众投资者分配利润,因此也无须进行准确的利润计算。对这种商事活动只需简单的算术计算即可满足经营的要求,因此其理性化程度较低。随着市场的扩展、竞争的加剧和技术的进步,商事活动的组织形式、交易工具日益复杂化,需要筹集巨额固定资本用机器进行大规模生产以满足大众化的市场需求。在这种情况下,企业为了在市场竞争中生存,就必须准确计算并控制成本,以保持竞争优势;为了向大众投资者分配利润并以较高的利润分配来吸引潜在的投资者和债权人,企业就必须准确计算利润,企业的成本—利润计算越精确,就越是能在市场竞争中取得成功。在竞争性市场条件下,企业的销售价格受到竞争者的制约,因此利润主要来自于对成本的控制,而企业的成本决定于劳动、资本、土地等生产要素的价格及管理水平,为了使这些因素具有可计算性,企业必须用合同的形式把相应的交易条件确定下来,这就需要有一个高度形式化的可据以操作的商事法律体系和完善的簿记技术。形式化的商事法律体系是商事活动理性化的成就并且也是它的保障,交易活动越是具有非人格化的属性,这种保障就越是必要。商事活动理性化的最高成就集中体现在现代工业股份公司制度上,这一商事组织把劳动力市场、资本市场、货币市场、土地市场、产品市场等联结为一体,组成高度复杂的交易网络,它所提供的销售额、股息、红利、工资、利润、资本利得等等都成为很方便的征税对象。长期以来国家在税权行使方面往往面临着对征税对象进行估价的困难,而事商活动理性化为了本身计算的目的提供了计税依据,因此降低了国家的征税成本。并且面向大众筹资的股份公司为了证明自已在资本市场上的吸引力,最好的办法就是向股东和潜在的投资者报告自己的利润,而且隐瞒利润也不符合公司本身的利益,也就是说公司具有“说真话”的内在激励,而这些“真话”正是国家征税所需要的。因此商事活动理性化具有完善国家税权的效果,这是本文予以论证的第一个命题。但是国家的税收也是商事活动中的一个重要成本因素,无论是直接税,还是间接税,最终都必须由企业从货币收益中支付给国家,应付税款是企业必须履行的对国家的债务,因而最终会在企业的利润计算中反映出来。企业要准确地进行成本一利润计算,就必须准确地确定对国家的税收义务,使之具有明确的可预期性。为此必须做到:国家的公共开支全部来自于税收,征税之外不得另行任意摊派;国家确定的征税对象、计税依据、税种、税率、纳税期限和方式必须明确;国家的征税活动中必须排除不必要的检查、盘问、留难勒索;最后必须为纳税人提出的税收争议提供方便高效的救济途径。总之在立法、执法和司法的各个层面都必须保证纳税义务的确定性,使企业对税收成本像对其他成本一样可以准确计算,这样基于成本—利润计算的理性化的商事活动才能顺利展开。中世纪时期的奢侈品贸易、重商主义时期的垄断特权为商事活动带来高额利润,能够抵销国家任意征税带来的不利影响,商事活动得以生存。但是在近代面向大众市场进行生产的竞争性资本主义时期,国家不受制约的任意征税成了理性化的商事活动不可容忍的障碍,为此西方主要国家先后发起资产阶级革命,开展了控制国家税权的斗争,最终把任意勒索的“家产制国家”改造成以提供保护和正义换取税收的“税收国家”,市场经济体制得以确立。因此规范国家税权是商事活动进一步理性化的重要前提,这是本文予以论证的第二个命题。通过以上两个命题,本文认为商事活动理性化降低了国家的征税成本,完善了国家税权,同时国家税权的规范化有利于商事活动的理性化,因此商业力量与国家力量之间实现了正和博弈,实现了有效率的均衡。这是西方国家自中世纪以来数百年的历史经验,在这—经验中,国家税权的规范化是关键性的制度突破。大规模的商业经营在中外的历史上都普遍存在,如古罗马和法国大革命前的包税商,中国明清之际的盐商等,但这些都是依靠国家权力而存在的商业活动。真正面向市场机会的、以提供商品和服务为手段的竞争性商事活动只是西方社会近代以来才有的现象。因为以分工为基础的市场交换只有在受到切实保障的私有财产权之上才能展开,而国家税权则是私有财产权的反面,国家征税的实质是把私有财产的一部分通过政治权力转化为公共资金,因此不受制约的税权必然造成对私有财产的侵犯。只有规范国家税权,使纳税人能够通过民主程序决定国家公共开支的范围和方向,并在此范围内确定税收水平,制定税收法律,确保国家税权行使的规范化,才能使私有财产上的税收义务具有确定性,保障私有财产的安全。在现代社会中,理性化的商事活动是一项权利密集型和契约密集型的事业,它建立在一系列复杂的信用交易之上,要保证信用关系的稳定性和可预计性,就必须由国家提供法律保护,而国家在提供法律保护方面具有规模优势。这种以税收换取保护的制度安排使税收义务具有了正当性。基于以上认识,本文立足于商事活动与国家税权之间的这种相互作用展开研究。论文共分为五章。第一章是对基本范畴的界定并提出一个交易成本的分析框架。第一节借鉴韦伯的理论,首先界定了“商事活动理性化”,指出“商事活动理性化”意味着商事活动基于货币和资本的可计算性,理性化的程度取决于可计算性的程度。货币是商事活动中的最佳计算工具,因为只有货币计算才能赋予不同的物品以价值量,使不同的商品有一个公分母,从而便于进行价值比较。随着商事活动的扩展,货币计算的范围不断扩大,理性化程度不断提高。第二节回顾了国家税权自以中世纪来的演变,指出了在商事活动理性化程度较低的情况下国家税权的不完善性。第三节则提出一个交易成本的分析框架,将国家的征税活动看作是国家与纳税人之间的一种交易关系,指出国家的税权行使受到交易成本的制约,而交易成本主要由税权的界定成本和征税活动中的代理成本构成。这种交易成本与商事活动理性化的程度密切相关,理性化程度较高的商事活动为征税对象提供了可以计算的价值量,因此降低了税权界定成本和代理成本。第二章探讨了中世纪的商事活动和国家税权。中世纪的主导经济形态是封建割据下的自然经济,但是在传统势力薄弱的地区产生了发达的商事活动。第一节首先分析了多元税权下的经济类型以及与之相适应的税权形态,指出自然经济与实物劳役税相对应。第二节描述了发端于地中海沿岸的商事活动向传统经济的渗透,导致实物税向货币税的过渡,进而引起了国家税权的初步转型。这一时期西方文明的显著特点是城市的兴起,城市通过各种方式获得了自治权,城市基于货币化的商业财富发展了消费税、财产税、国债、国家银行等具有现代意义的财政工具,基于理性化的商事活动完善了国家税权,为后世大型民族国家处理商事活动与国家税权之间的关系做出了有益的探索。第三节集中探讨了在封建制造成地方分权、税权分割的情况下,欧洲不存在可以有效遏制商事活动发展的统一权威,因而商事活动首先在地中海沿岸的意大利城市繁荣起来,产生了商业技术的杰作——复式薄记法、票据、银行、债券、合伙、公司、代理等商事工具,奠定了近代商法文明。同时指出地方分权造成的币制混乱,封建君主和诸侯滥征通行税,强制借款以及为了财政利益而擅自降低货币成色等等,成了商事活动理性化的最大障碍,因此商业的进一步发展需要政权的统一和税权的统一。第三章考察了君主制民族国家时期的商事活动和国家税权。第一节介绍了新时代的背景。首先国王作为封建时期最大的封建主,借助商业所提供的税源,铲除封建割据,加强王权,统一税权、度量衡、币制,把传统的封建国家改造成统一的君主制民族国家。其次由于民族国家之间的激烈竞争,战争规模扩大,需要高效率的税收体系来支持战争,为此主要国家采取了使国家利益和商业利益得以兼容的重商主义政策,为商事活动在民族国家范围内、以民族国家为单位展开奠定了基础。与此相适应,原来具有国际品格的商事习惯法被国家化,原来靠商事共同体维持其效力的商法逐渐被赋予国家的强制力。扩展了的非人格化的商事活动所需要的交易安全可以得到具有规模效益的国家强制力的保障。第二节探讨了新时代商事活动理性化的新进展,其主要成就是把早期城市共和国发展起来的商事制度和技术引进到民族国家中。为此国家税权也发生了相应的变化,现代商业税体系逐步建立起来。第三节以英国和法国为例,探讨了两国在处理商事活动和国家税权之间关系的不同路径,并导致不同的结果,指出在商事活动理性化的过程中规范国家税权的重要性。税权统一虽然减少了商事活动的地区壁垒,但不受制约的王权擅自征税、强迫借贷、没收、罚款以及滥施恩典授予垄断特权,凡此种种,均妨害了私人财产权和营业自由,因而必须对君主的税权加以规范,这就导致了现代税收国家的诞生。因此第四章重点研究了英、美两国税权民主化的过程。第一节首先概述商事活动从对外贸易逐渐转向面向大众市场的工商业活动,因此规范国家税权日益重要。第二节主要介绍英国的经验。在英国,工商业阶级以及商业化的中小贵族始终是一股重要的政治力量,他们通过政治斗争实现了议会对税权的控制,并逐渐结束了国家基于财政目的的垄断特权,实现了商事自由,为理性化的商事活动创造了制度条件。第三节介绍美国的经验,美国的立国者们鉴于由于国家税权不完善导致邦联垮台的深刻教训,以及历史上各国税权不统一给商事活动带来的破坏,因此在宪法的制度设计中特别注意对国家税权的规范,以实现把美国建成一个工商业大国的目标。从英美两国的经验看出,驯服税权是商事活动理性化的一项主要成就和事业,从此民主政治和市场经济统一于税收国家之下,市场经济因私人财产权和营业自由而保持活力,国家则因理性化的商事活动所提供的充足税源而大大减少了出于财政目的的种种干预,而且完善的税制结构为国家实现社会政策目标提供了灵活的税收工具。基于对西方国家历史变迁的研究,论文在第五章对中国的历史与现实予以考察。第一节中论文提出,中国古代不受约束的税权是商事活动理性化的重大障碍,具体表现为专制税权下小农基础上的大国效应和财政市场对生活市场的挤压。由于国家税权长期建立在低效率的农业实物经济之上,货币化程度较低,缺乏基于货币的可计算性,因此税权界定和赋税的征收受到到高额交易成本的制约,国家财政能力有限。为了从大量分散的农业中征税,国家不得不维持庞大的官僚机构和队伍,以加强对农业中土地和劳动力的控制,因此从事商事活动必要的自由受到严格限制。同时为了弥补农业税收的不足,国家对主要消费资料实行专卖,通过定价政策榨取农业中的剩余产品。这种依靠国家权力的专卖式商业不可能发展出理性化的商事活动,因为它的利润来自于政治权力,而不是对平等竞争的市场机会的利用。由于路径依赖的作用,这种历史的遗产对当今中国仍有影响。第二节简要地分析了市场化改革中国家税权存在的问题,认为分税制改革虽然是建国以来税权变革方面最为重要的措施,部分解决了国家、企业和个人之间的分配关系,但这一改革仍是“就税论税”,税收之外仍有大量的国家收入未能纳入规范的税权控制之下,不受到法律规范的国家税外财政行为构成了商事活动理性化的妨碍,因此为了发展中国特色的社会主义市场经济,实现商事活动的理性化,从制度上规范国家税权是今后改革的一项重要任务,并从法理上论证了实现税权规范化的三项对策。更多还原

【Abstract】 The relationship between state power and the market is the core issue of economics, politics,and law.There are many researching approaches on this issue.This thesis focuses on how commercial activities and state taxation achieve effective balance.Commercial activities are profit-making economic activities targeting the market with currency as a tool via commodities and service supply,which distinguish from family operation aiming at self consumption at this point.Whether a commercial activity is successful or not is to be valued by profits.To determine the amount of profits,we have to fix all transaction conditions in operation in the form of contract to be implemented in a compelling way,calculate all costs precisely.This work of calculating costs and profits via currency is exposed by rationality in commercial activities,that is,the nature to be calculated or expected.Rationality here mainly refers to "purpose rationality" in Weber’s theory,that is,to an established purpose,which is most effective,and the more effective it is to achieve established goal,the more rationality it is.Commercial activities evolve from simple form to complex form,from low-grade to high-grade,from luxuries trade in early times to mass production for the public in industrial times,which is a process of upgrading the rationality.In western early trade,the subjects in commerce mainly are individuals, family,and simple partnership;for the high profits luxuries earn,there’s no need to calculate costs precisely;for there’s no need to allocate profits to the public investors,therefore there’s no need to do precise profits calculation.Simple mathematics could meet the requirement for operation in these commercial activities;therefore the rationality is very low in this stage. With market extension,more competition and technology progress,the organization form and trading tools in commercial activities are more complex,there’s a need to collect large amount of capital to invest in mass production machines for the purpose of meeting public market needs.Under this condition,the enterprises have to precisely calculate and control cost to keep competition advantage for the purpose of surviving in the market;to allocate profits to the public investors and attract potential investors and creditors by comparatively high profits,the enterprises have to calculate profits precisely;the more precise an enterprise calculate its costs and profits,the more successful it is in market competition.Under the condition of competitive market,the selling price of an enterprise is restricted by its competitor;therefore profits mainly come form the control on costs,while the costs in an enterprise are determined by the price of production factors such as labor,capital,land,and the management level.To make these factors to be calculated,the enterprises have to determine corresponding trading conditions in the form of contracts,which makes a highly formalized commercial legal system and improved bookkeeping technology.Formalized commercial legal system is the achievement and protection of commercial activities rationality;the more non-personalized nature trading has,the more necessity this protection is.The greatest achievement of commercial rationalized activities is highly exposed by modern industrial stock company which unifies labor market,capital market,currency market,land market and products market,forming a highly complex trading net.The sales, interests,bonus,salary,profits and capital income it supplies become very convenient taxation objects.In a long time,the state faced the difficulty to evaluate taxation objects in the process of taxation,while the commercial activities rationalization provides taxation convenience,thus lowering state taxation cost.Stock companies aiming at collecting funds from the public have to prove its attraction in capital market by reporting to the shareholders and potential investors their profits.Meanwhile,hiding profits do not meet the companies’ interest,that is,there’s an incentive for the company to "tell the truth",while the "truth" is what state taxation need.In consequence,commercial activities rationalization has the effect of improving state taxation;this is the first proposition to be proved in this thesis.State taxation is an important cost factor in commercial activities,no matter direct tax or indirect tax ultimately is paid by the enterprises from their currency revenue,which becomes debts to the state,therefore they are reflected in the calculation of the profits.Enterprises have to carry out cost-profit calculation precisely,which makes it a necessity to determine tax to be paid under expectation.To reach this,the following measures have to be taken:all state public expenses come from taxation with no apportions allowed;the tax objects,criterion,tax category,tax term and means have to be determined definitely;unnecessary check,question and blackmail have to be excluded from state taxation;tax disputes proposed by the taxpayers have to be remedied effectively.In all,the duty to pay tax has to be determined at all levels, which makes the enterprises precisely calculate their tax,thus makes the rationalized commercial activities based on cost-profit calculation carrying out smoothly.Luxuries trade in middle ages and monopoly in mercantile system brings high profit,which could countervail the negative influence caused by state arbitrary taxation,and commercial activities exist for this reason.While in modern times when competitive capitalism began to carry out mass production for public market,state arbitrary taxation becomes intolerable obstacle for rationalized commercial activities,therefore major west powers began their capitalist revolution,carried out their struggle against state taxation control,eventually formed the country into a "tax state" aiming at providing protection and justice,which made the market system established.Therefore,regulate state taxation in a normative way is an important premise to make commercial activities more rationalized,which is the second proposition to be proved in this thesis.This thesis believes that via the above two proposition,the rationalization of commercial activities reduces state taxation cost,improves state taxation,while at the same time state taxation in a normative way does good to the rationalization of commercial activities, therefore commercial forces and state power reaches efficient balance.This is the historical experience since middle ages,in which standardization of state taxation is the key institutional breakthrough.Massive commercial operation existed in China and west,such as farmer in ancient Rome and France before revolution,and the salt dealers in Ming and Qing dynasty, but these commercial activities are very dependent on state power.Competitive commercial activities by means of providing commodities and services for the market occur since modern times in western society.Market exchange could only be carried out when the private property could be protected well while state taxation is against private property.The essence of sate taxation is to change part of the private property into public funds by political power; therefore unrestricted taxation will invade private property.Only by putting state taxation in a normative way could the taxpayers determine the fields and direction for public expenses via democratic procedure,determine tax level within this fields,make tax laws,and ensure the normative performance of state taxation,which could in turn make tax obligation on private property determined and safe.In modern society,rationalized commercial activities is a right-intensive and contract-intensive business,it is based on a series of complex credit trading,to ensure the credit relationship stable and expectable the state has to provide legal protection,for it has scale advantage in this aspect.The institutional arrangement to exchange tax for protection makes the tax obligation due.Based on the above knowledge,this thesis carries out its argument on the mutual influence between commercial activities and state taxation.The thesis consists of five chapters.ChapterⅠis to define a basic category and propose an analysis scheme on transaction cost.SectionⅠlearns from Weber,first defines "the rationalization of commercial activities",pointing out that it refers that commercial activities are based on calculation of currency and capital,the degree of rationalization depends on the degree to be calculated. Currency is the best calculating tool in commercial activities,for only currency could evaluate different goods,and make different goods compare easily.With the expansion of commercial activities,the fields to be calculated by currency enlarged with an increasing rationalization. SectionⅡreviews the evolution of state taxation since middle ages,pointing out that the state taxation is to be improved under low level rationalization in commercial activities.SectionⅢproposes an analysis scheme on transaction cost,putting the state taxation as a trading relationship between state and taxpayers,pointing that stat taxation is restricted by transaction cost which consists of defining costs for taxation and the agency costs in tax collection.This transaction cost have a close relationship with commercial activities rationalization, commercial activities with a much higher rationalization provides a value to be calculated for objects of taxation,thus reduces the defining cost on taxation and the agency cost.ChapterⅡdiscusses the commercial activities and state taxation in middle ages.The dominant economic form in middle ages is traditional natural economy,but developed commercial activities occurred in areas with weak traditional forces.Section I first analyzes the economic types under multi-taxation and its corresponding taxation form,pointing out that natural economy corresponds with a taxation form of kain and service.SectionⅡdescribes the commercial activities originating along Mediterranean Sea penetrated to traditional economy,making the transition from kain to currency tax,and further causing the preliminary transition of state taxation.In this period,the prominent character of western civilization is the rising of cities.Cities gained autonomy by every kind of means,cities developing modern financial tools such as consumption tax,property tax,national debts,and state bank based on wealth calculated by currency.State taxation is improved based on rationalized commercial activities.SectionⅢdiscusses that there’s no unified authority to curb the commercial activities under the conditions of decentralization and taxation separation caused by feudalism,therefore commerce flourished in Italian cities along Mediterranean Sea together with the genius production of commercial tool such as double entry bookkeeping method,note,bank,bonds,partnership,agency,which made the base for modern commercial civilization.On the other hand,the decentralization in local places caused confused currency system,feudal kings and seigneurs abusing taxation on passing,forced borrowing and arbitrarily reducing the content in currency for financial interests,which became the greatest block for commercial activities rationalization.Therefore,the further development for commerce made the unity of governments and taxation in great need.ChapterⅢexamines the commercial activities and state taxation in monarchy states. SectionⅠintroduces the background for new times.First,the king as the biggest feudal host, with the help of taxes from commerce,the king eradicated the feudal decentralization, strengthened the kingship,unified taxation,metrology and currency system,further unified domestic market with the help of taxes from commerce,applied mercantile system to give both emphasis on state interests and commercial interests,which laid base for commercial activities to be carried out in a country.Second,for the reason of severe competition between national states,war scale being extended,a highly effective taxation system is in great need, therefore major countries applied the mercantile policy giving attention to both national interests and commercial interests,which made the commercial activities to be carried out within the border of national countries.To suit this,the commercial unwritten laws bearing the nature of international feature were nationalized,and the commercial law was endowed with state power which was originally sustained by commercial communities.The trading safety of the extended non-personalized commercial activities was supplied by state power. SectionⅡdiscusses the new development of rationalization for commercial activities,whose major achievement is to introduce he commercial system and techniques developed in early city countries into the national states.Therefore corresponding changes occurred in state taxation,and modern commercial tax system was established gradually.SectionⅢdiscusses different route applied by Britain and France and the different consequences in dealing with the relationship between commercial activities and state taxation,pointing out the importance of regulating state taxation in the process of commercial activities rationalization.The unity of taxation removed the district blocks for commercial activities,but private property and trading freedom were harmed by arbitral taxation,forced borrowing,seizure,and arbitral authorization on monopoly for no restriction on kingship,which led to the coming of modern tax state.Therefore Chapter IV focuses on the democratization process for taxation in Britain and US.SectionⅠfirst examines the commercial activities gradually turned to industrial and commercial activities targeting the market,therefore it is increasingly important to regulate state taxation.SectionⅡmainly discusses experience in Britain.In Britain, industrial and commercial class and commercialized medium and small nobles are very important political forces;they achieve control on taxation from the congress by political struggle,gradually end the monopoly by the state for the purpose of finance only,which provides institutional conditions for rationalized commercial activities.Section HI introduces US experience.The founders of US learn from the lessons of the Confederation collapse because of the deficiency in state taxation and the destruction on commerce caused by un-unified state taxation;therefore they pay more attention on the regulation on sate taxation to achieve the goal of making US as a power in industry and commerce.It is clear from the experience of the above two countries that taming taxation is a major achievement and cause for rationalization of commercial activities.Since then,democracy politics and market economy are unified under tax state.Market economy keeps vigorous for the freedom of private property rights and trading freedom,while the state reduces many kinds of intervention for financial consideration with sufficient taxes supplied by commerce.And improved taxation framework provide flexible tax tool for the state to achieve social policy goals.Based on the research on the historical evolution in western countries,the thesis examines Chinese history and reality.In sectionⅠ,the author believes that taxation without any restriction in ancient China was an important block on commercial activities rationalization,which was manifested by the suppression on living market caused by power effect and the financial market on the basis of natural economy under absolute taxation.For Chinese taxation is based on agricultural harvest economy with a low efficiency,lower degree of currency calculation,the taxation definition and tax collection are restricted by higher transaction cost and limited state financial capability.To collect tax from scattered agriculture,the state have to sustain large scale bureaucratic bodies and officers to strengthen the control on land and labor in agriculture.To compensate the tax gap from agriculture,the state sells consumption materials in a monopolized way,squeezing the residual from agriculture via fixed prices.This kind of commerce could not develop rationalized commercial activities for its profits coming from political power not from using market opportunities.This historical heritage still leaves influence on modern China.SectionⅡbriefly analyzes major problems in Chinese taxation in market reform,holding that tax share as most important taxation reform measures since 1949 partly solved the distribution relationship between state,enterprises and individual.This is only a solution on tax within the fields of tax,there are still large amount of state revenue beyond the control of normative taxation.The state revenue beyond the regulation of laws forms an obstacle for commercial activities rationalization,therefore it is an important task for our reformation to develop our market economy,realize commercial activities rationalization and regulate state taxation.This chapter also reasons three counter measures to realize taxation standardization on legal theory.更多还原