First of all, the WTO has the most extensive and far-reaching impact on China's macroeconomy and the entire national economy, which in turn has an indirect impact on China's tax system. On the one hand, it should be affirmed that joining the WTO will greatly promote the development of China's macroeconomics and major adjustments to its industrial structure, and increase the growth rate of China's economy. Because the markets of all WTO members are open to China, China can also use the relevant rules of WTO members to protect itself and get rid of the predicament of being repeatedly discriminated against by other countries in trade activities in the past, so that its exports can increase significantly. At the same time, joining the WTO will also make China eligible to participate in the formulation of international economic rules and create a stable and favorable international environment for China's long-term economic growth in the future. The sustained and rapid development of China's macro-economy in the future will inevitably bring about important changes in the tax system. In terms of tax setting: the increase in income will inevitably increase the status of income taxes in the tax system, and the WTO's concern for sustainable development will inevitably require my country to strengthen green taxation. In terms of tax sources: According to my country's commitment to open markets: the opening up of agriculture, telecommunications, high-tech, insurance, banking, services, tourism and other fields to the outside world, the inflow and output of capital, technology, and personnel will inevitably lead to the adjustment of industrial structure and the development of the industry. changes, the corresponding tax source structure will also undergo certain changes. In terms of tax collection and administration: the development of services, the network economy, the widespread use of e-commerce, and the influx of large multinational companies have all posed challenges to my country's current tax collection and administration methods and measures. In particular, the cross-regional and cross-industry nature of multinational companies, as well as electronic technology, information technology and network technology, make the operation and management of enterprises cross time and space. At the same time, with the increase in cross-border transactions, tax coordination and cooperation between countries need to be further strengthened, and the task of anti-tax avoidance becomes more arduous. These have raised very real issues for my country's current tax collection and administration system. On the other hand, joining the WTO will also have a certain impact on my country's domestic economy, because joining the WTO will connect my country's domestic market and the international market. With the large inflow of foreign goods, my country's domestic industries will face the power of foreign enterprises. compete. Some industries are bound to undergo major adjustments, which will have some indirect impact on China's tax system.

Secondly, the basic principles of the WTO will have many direct impacts on China’s tax system. The WTO inherits the basic principles of the original General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, and at the same time develops and improves them. To sum up, its main principles fall into six categories: the principle of non-discrimination, the principle of trade liberalization, the principle of transparency, the principle of fair trade, the principle of allowing exceptions and safeguard measures, and the principle of preferential treatment for developing countries. In terms of the principle of non-discrimination, we are required to adjust tax policies in accordance with the relevant rules of the WTO and the commitments made when joining the WTO, in exchange for the most-favored-nation treatment, national treatment and market access for Chinese-funded enterprises from WTO member states, and to cancel the restrictions on foreign investors as soon as possible. "Super national treatment" to achieve fair competition between domestic and foreign-funded enterprises. In particular, the principle of reciprocity of the WTO should be actively used to provide tax policy support in line with WTO rules for domestic-funded enterprises to implement their "going global" strategy. In terms of trade liberalization principles, the biggest impact on the tax system is to significantly reduce tariff rates to increase domestic market access. In terms of transparency, we are required to process internal documents as soon as possible, deepen the reform of the tax collection and administration system, realize the unified merger of the National Taxation Bureau and the local tax bureau, unify tax policies and regulations in various places, standardize the various local tax "local policies", and speed up the implementation of tax administration according to law. pace. At the same time, in order to strengthen the adaptability of its rules, the WTO also embodies the basic spirit of "there are exceptions among principles, and there are principles among exceptions", requiring us to make full use of the special status of developing countries, and in the "principles and exceptions" of the WTO Within the framework, reasonable and appropriate tax protection should be implemented for domestic products to ultimately promote industrial and structural adjustment.

2. Main problems existing in the current tax system

After the development in recent years, the pace of construction of the socialist market economy has accelerated, and the current tax system does not adapt to the shortcomings of the development of the market economy, especially After China joined the WTO, existing problems became more and more apparent based on the principles of the WTO.

1． The current tax system still does not fully reflect the principles of fair tax burden and national treatment. Currently, there are still two tax systems for domestic and foreign-funded enterprises. For example, domestic and foreign-funded enterprises are subject to the corporate income tax, foreign-invested enterprises and foreign enterprise income tax systems respectively; urban maintenance and construction tax, urban land use tax, and education surcharge are levied on domestic-funded enterprises, but not on foreign-funded enterprises; the same tax objects, Different types of taxes are applicable to domestic and foreign-funded enterprises. Domestic-funded enterprises are subject to real estate tax and vehicle and vessel usage tax, while foreign-funded enterprises are subject to urban real estate tax and vehicle and vessel license tax. Domestic-funded enterprises basically do not have tariff preferences, but foreign-funded enterprises enjoy tariff preferences. The existence of these problems violates the principles of fair taxation and national treatment and affects fair competition among enterprises.

2． .The current tax system is not perfect enough. The tax reform in 1994 initially established a tax system that is consistent with the socialist market economy, but there are many imperfections. (1) The current value-added tax is a "production line" value-added tax, and the tax paid on the purchase of fixed assets is not deducted, resulting in repeated taxation that has not been completely resolved, inhibiting the investment needs of enterprises and equipment renewal, and technological transformation; policies for domestic and foreign-funded enterprises Inconsistency and uneven tax burden; the current value-added tax and business tax are levied in parallel, and the connection part is difficult to manage. There is a lot of tax revenue loss, management methods are relatively backward, and tax evasion occurs from time to time.

(2) Foreign-funded enterprises not only implement two different income tax laws, but also have different deduction items, different deduction standards, and different tax preferential policies, resulting in many differences and contradictions. (3) The intensity of regulating personal income is still insufficient. As personal income increases year by year, the income gap gradually widens, and the current personal income tax cannot effectively play the role of regulating personal income. (4) The reform of local taxes is not in place. Due to various reasons, most of the local tax reforms included in the 1994 tax reform plan have not been implemented so far. The problem that local taxes cannot meet the needs of economic development has become increasingly prominent. (5) Collection and management methods are still relatively backward. China’s economic development level varies greatly from place to place, and the level of collection and management also varies greatly from place to place, requiring continuous reform and improvement.

3． After China joins the WTO, it must fully provide competitive opportunities for WTO member countries in trade in goods, trade in services, trade in intellectual property rights, and foreign exchange management, and must clearly reflect the most-favored-nation treatment, the principle of national treatment, and the principles of countervailing and anti-dumping in taxation. , the principle of transparency, the principle of unity, the principle of exception, etc. There are many areas in the current tax system that are inconsistent with the above principles, and the current tax system needs to be reformed in accordance with WTO rules.

Three Countermeasures in Facing Opportunities and Challenges

Facing opportunities and challenges, we should conduct a centralized clean-up of the current tax system in accordance with the basic principles of the WTO agreement, and follow the principles of "abolish one batch, reform The basic idea of ​​"one batch, establish one batch" is to carry out comprehensive reform of the current tax system.

1. Strengthen the construction of tax legal system. The direction of China's social development is to establish a socialist democratic legal country, and governing the country according to law is the code of conduct for the government. To implement the idea of ​​governing the country according to law, in the field of taxation, we must adhere to the rule of law and strengthen the construction of the taxation legal system. Mainly from three aspects: (1) Improve tax legislation. It is necessary to standardize the procedures and forms of tax legislation, speed up tax legislation, and resolutely stop the behavior of formulating tax policies beyond their authority. (2) Adhere to taxation in accordance with the law. Taxation according to law can be understood from two aspects. On the one hand, taxation must be carried out according to law, and taxation must have legal provisions; on the other hand, taxation must be adhered to according to law, and taxpayers must consciously pay tax according to legal provisions. Both parties to the collection and collection must act in accordance with the law and collect and pay taxes in accordance with legal provisions. (3) Standardize tax law enforcement. Strengthen the uniformity of tax law enforcement, strictly standardize tax law enforcement, increase the intensity of tax law enforcement, and plug loopholes in tax collection and management.

2. Enhance the transparency of tax laws. In tax laws and tax-related documents, the content of taxation provisions must be clearly expressed to avoid flexibility and multiple interpretations. Relevant tax laws and influential legal documents are published in a timely manner, allowing all parties to have sufficient time to prepare. Designate an official publication to publish the relevant documents. The legislative body establishes a system for publishing tax laws. The tax authorities must provide tax payment services and enable taxpayers to request the above documents in a timely manner.

3. "Abolish, establish and reform" the current tax system. In accordance with the rules of the WTO, the current tax system will be compared, cleaned up, and improved to establish a new tax system that is fair, open, powerful, competitive, and promotes economic development. The following modifications are made to the specific system:

——VAT. There are two main directions for adjusting the current value-added tax: First, conversion and transformation, that is, changing the production-based value-added tax to a consumption-based value-added tax, allowing the tax contained in purchased fixed assets to be deducted, and reducing the relatively relatively high burden currently borne by enterprises. The other is to reduce the heavy investment burden and improve the ability of enterprises to renew and expand investment; the other is to expand the scope, that is, to include the transportation industry and the construction and installation industry into the scope of value-added tax implementation and improve the value-added tax deduction chain.