Fiscal policy in China : taxation and intergovernmental fiscal relations

In Taxation Reform in China, Roy Bahl dissects and analyzes China's 1994 tax reform as a case study of a major developing country attempting to modernize its fiscal system. Starting with an examination o the fundamental question of whether Chinese taxes are too low, it goes on to analyze the reform of the country's tax structure, ax administration, central-provincial fiscal relations, and provincial-local fiscal relations. The concluding chapter looks to the next steps in tax reform. Throughout, the book features a large amount of quantitative analysis and draws parallels with the reform options followed in other economies.The 1994 reform is noteworthy because it was the most systematic and comprehensive restructuring of China's revenue system since the start of economic reform in 1979. Besides adapting the tax structure and tax administration to the needs of rapidly rising market economy, the major thrust of the reform was to redefine the intergovernmental fiscal relations in the country. Bahl points out that, although the reform clearly thrust the nation's fiscal system toward centralization, at the same time it put in place the structure necessary to pursue a true fiscal decentralization in the future.Bahl's extensive experience advising developing countries on tax reform has led to a book of great breadth and depth. It I will be of interest to students of economic development, comparative fiscal systems or of the Chinese economy.