Tax Reform in the China Context : The Corporate Tax Unit & Chinese Enterprise

Research into the relationships between people and organizations that drive social behaviour and institutions in China has produced some profound findings on the structure of society in China. The network structure of private enterprise and the importance of Guanxi are often highlighted. While some scholars of comparative law have investigated the implications these issues have for legal reform/development in China, too many projects assume that emulation of the laws in developed legal systems is the way forward for China. This ignores the importance of tailoring China's laws to the structure of Chinese society. The debate surrounding the reform of income tax laws in China is no exception with many commentators looking to Western tax laws to solve such severe problems as tax avoidance and low revenue yields. This paper seeks to address some of the issues that arise in applying income tax laws based on those of developed countries to private enterprise in China with a particular focus on the legal design of the income tax unit