包税制的兴起与衰落:交易费用与征税合同的选择

The Rise and Fall of Tax Farming:Transaction Costs and Contractual Choices in tax Collection

在 1 9世纪甚至 2 0世纪初以前 ,包税制都是许多国家赖以征税的一个重要机制。但是 ,对于它的研究一直很少 ,也不深入。最近 ,在欧美等国 ,一种变形的包税制又开始出现。在我国的某些地方 ,税务机构也尝试着将某些税收承包给非政府机构。因此 ,研究历史上的包税制也具有一定的现实意义。本文运用交易费用理论和历史社会学的研究成果探索了包税制在近现代史上兴起和衰落的原因。

Before the 19 th and even early 20 th centuries,tax farming was the dominant mechanism the state employed to collect taxes.However,there is little in depth research on it.Currently,modified system of tax farming appeared in USA,Britain,and local government in China.Therefore,a historical study of tax farming in history is very useful.Drawing from transaction cost economics and historical sociology,this paper explores why tax farming rose and fell in the early modern period.It first compares tax farming systems in this period,and identifies five patterns of tax farming.Next,it reviews theoretical explanations about tax farming.Upon this,this paper approaches tax farming from the perspective of contractual choice,and develops a transaction cost model to examine the state's contractual choices in tax collection.