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Introduction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 March 2022

Wei Cui
Affiliation:
University of British Columbia, Vancouver
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Summary

This chapter identifies the book’s two basic aims: (1) explaining what policy makers and scholars interested in building tax capacity in developing countries may learn from the Chinese experience; and (2) articulating a framework for understanding the politics of taxation in China. It then explains how the unique approach of the book, which focuses on ground-level tax administration, serves these two aims. In relation to the first aim, the book will argue that contrary to assumptions in the current literature, there are fundamentally different types of state capacity in taxation, which follow potentially irreconcilable choices in the face of difficult trade-offs. In relation to the second aim, the book uses the structure of tax administration to illustrate the heterogeneity of political incentives within the Chinese state, critical information bottlenecks, and the political motives behind invocations of law. Unifying the pursuit of these two aims is a reflective conception of law as a special form of securing social order, which sees legal ordering as fundamentally different from social ordering based on state coercion. A summary of the ensuing chapters follows.

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Chapter
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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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  • Introduction
  • Wei Cui, University of British Columbia, Vancouver
  • Book: The Administrative Foundations of the Chinese Fiscal State
  • Online publication: 24 March 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108868648.001
Available formats
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Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

  • Introduction
  • Wei Cui, University of British Columbia, Vancouver
  • Book: The Administrative Foundations of the Chinese Fiscal State
  • Online publication: 24 March 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108868648.001
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Introduction
  • Wei Cui, University of British Columbia, Vancouver
  • Book: The Administrative Foundations of the Chinese Fiscal State
  • Online publication: 24 March 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108868648.001
Available formats
×