清末澳门华人纳税制度的形成与发展

How the System of Taxation on Chinese People in Macao Took Shape and Evolved in Late Qing Dynasty

鸦片战争之前,澳城外华人向香山县缴纳赋税,澳城内华人亦受清政府管辖。鸦片战争后不久,葡萄牙人单方面宣布澳门为自由港,取消了澳门中葡两国海关,失去了主要的财政收入;他们欲向整个澳门半岛及离岛的华人征税以弥补损失,同时也想借此机会攫取澳门主权中最为关键的一环———税收主权,最终达到摆脱清政府控制、夺得澳门管治权的政治目的。澳门华人纳税制度经历了三个阶段的演变,19世纪50年代是雏形期,70年代是成熟期,80年代则最终成形。

Before the first Opium War （1839 -1842）, the Chinese residents in the suburban area of Macao City paid taxes to the Xiangshan county of Guangdong Province, and those inside the city were within the jurisdiction of the then Qing government. Soon after the end of the war, the Portugal government unilaterally declared Macao a free port and abrogated both countries＇ customs in the city, which deprived the Macao Municipality of its chief financial incomes. The Portuguese side then attempted to compensate for the losses by taxing on all the Chinese residents who live on Macao Peninsula as well as on its off islands, simultaneously taking the chance to seize the kernel of Macao＇s sovereignty- revenue, thereby ultimately seceding from the Qing government＇s control and achieving the political goal of exclusively ruling the area. The taxation system on Chinese residents underwent three stages of evolution, debuting in the 1850s, improved in the 1870s and finally established in the 1880s.