Taxation and Governance in Contemporary China (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781009509725)

In contrast to the drastic shifts in China's political landscape and society since 2012, taxation may appear as a comparatively mundane topic receiving limited attention. However, the relative stability in China's taxation system underscores its delicate role in maintaining a balance in state-society relations. The Element embarks on an exploration of China's intricate taxation system in the contemporary era, illuminating its origins and the profound reverberations on state-society relations. It shows that China's reliance on indirect taxation stems from the legacies of transitioning from a planned economy to a market-driven one as well as elaborate fiscal bargaining between the central and local governments. This strategy inadvertently heightens Chinese citizens' sensitivity to direct taxation and engenders the tragedy of the commons, leading to rising government debts and collusion by local governments and businesses that results in land expropriation, labor disputes, and environmental degradation.

Author: Xiaobo Lü,Changdong Zhang
ISBN-10: 1009509721
ISBN-13: 9781009509725
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Language: English
Published: 01/31/2026
Pages: 75
Format: Hardcover