从分权下集权到集权下分权——近代中国财政分权与事权适配的演进

From Centralization under Decentralization to Decentralization under Centralization Centralization under Decentralization to Decentralization under Centralization-Division of Fiscal Power and Adaptation of Affairs in Modern China

近代中国财政分权,经历了从分权下集权到集权下分权的演进。晚清到北洋时期,财权不断下移,权力格局愈发碎片化。中央欲在分权状态下集中财权,但地方或不予理会,或群起反对,各项措置之策皆无果而终。地方利用实质性掌握的财权,自征捐税,自发公债,自印钞券,自补军需,自扩疆圉,进一步加剧了央地关系的离散,央地财政关系愈发混沌。南京国民政府时期,尝试打碎过度分权下的失序状态,通过战争、金融统制、税制改革等措施,以期让权力从碎片化逐渐走向集中化。在相对集权的中央政府统一框架下,“实省虚县”与“实县虚省”,形成中央、省(市)、县(市)的三级财政体系的框架,部分适配了各级政府事权的需要。但因中央政府权力正当性的普遍质疑和财政的人格化控制,侵蚀了中央的权威性,使其分权效果较为有限,但某种程度上改变了北洋时期央地财政关系边界不清、权限不明的含混之局。从分权下集权到集权下分权,反映了财权从下移到上移的演化过程,中央政府对全局控制能力的差异,影响了财政分权的效果。

The decentralization of finance in modern China has undergone an evolution from centralization under de-centralization to decentralization under centralization.From the late Qing dynasty to the Beiyang period,the financial power shifted downward and the power pattern became more and more fragmented.The central government wanted to centralize the financial power under decentralization,but the localities either ignored or opposed it,and all the measures were in vain.Localities used their substantial financial power to levy their own taxes,issue their own bonds,print their own banknotes,replenish their own military supplies,and expand their own borders,which further intensified the dispersion of central local relations and made central-local financial relations more chaotic.Under the Nanjing Nationalist Government,attempts were made to break the disorder under the excessive decentralization of power through war,financial unification,and tax reform,with a view to gradually moving from fragmentation to centralization.Under the unified framework of the relatively centralized central government,"real provinces and virtual counties"and"real counties and virtual provinces"were decentralized,forming the framework of a three-tier financial system of central government,provinces(municipalities)and counties(cities),which partially accommodated the needs of governmental authority at all levels.However,the effect of decentralization was limited by the formal unification,the general questioning of the legitimacy of the central gov-ernment's power and the personalized control of finance,which eroded the authority of the central government,but to some extent changed the ambiguous situation of unclear boundaries and unclear authority of the central and local financial relations during the Beiyang period.The transition from centralization under decentralization to decentralization under centralization reflects the evolution of fiscal authority from downward to upward,and the difference in the central government's ability to control the whole situation affected the effect of fiscal decentralization.