“Visible Constitutionalism”: A Perspective on Understanding the Fiscal Power Onfiguration of China's Constitution

If the configuration of political power is the core of the constitutional system, then the fiscal power—as the lifeblood from which no political community can be separated—can be seen as the most integral part of the political power: fiscal power configuration can be called the foundation of all political regimes. Fiscal power configuration has its own rules that restrict political power; the synergies of personnel, finance, and functions determine the operating mechanisms of other political powers and their effectiveness. Fiscal power configuration rests on six institutions: revenue, expenditure, transfer payments, budget, final accounts, and the audit system. Constitutional law, tax law, budget law, and the law on transfer payments are its main forms. It is the constitutionalism most likely to be “visible” and constitutes the most pivotal constitutional practice. From this perspective, China's revenue-sharing system reform in 1994 is an unprecedented fiscal power reconfiguration of the People's Republic of China, which should be seen as a far-reaching transformation of the China constitutional practice. The social debate around the reform of the revenue-sharing system and its effectiveness, which began thirty years ago and continues today, also demonstrates the necessity of switching from a static to a dynamic view of the Constitution. Considering constitutionalism as a constant self-repairing and increasingly perfect dynamic process will help us discover living constitutional rules.