遗产税功能的演变

研究遗产税的功能对我国遗产税的开征具有重要意义。遗产税起源于西欧和埃及古老的财产继承和职务继承的制度,古代遗产税发挥的主要功能是确认产权转移,而不是筹集财政收入,以往的研究对此认识不足;市场经济需要洗牌装置,即大力发挥遗产税公平社会财富分配的功能,但现代遗产税因为种种原因,无法完成这一使命,因而遭遇了生存危机;当代社会是社会资源垄断普遍化的社会,遗产税更是不可或缺的,在社会情绪宣泄和社会心理支持两个方面,发挥着重要的社会心理疏导功能。

The Evolution of Estate Tax Function

The study on estate tax function is of great significance for the levy of estate tax in China.The estate tax originated from the system of inheriting property and position in ancient Western Europe and Egypt.Previous studies had insuflicient understanding of the major function of ancient estate tax—to confirm the transfer of property rights rather than to raise financial revenue.The market economy requires a shuffle device,which could bring the function of redistributing social wealth into full play.However,the modern estate tax fails to accomplish this mission due to various reasons and suffers from survival crisis.The contemporary society features universal monopoly of social resources.The estate tax is indispensable,for it plays important roles in counseling social psychology in terms of social emotional catharsis and psychological support.