16世纪的中英两国,表面上看,都是君主专制的封建王朝,但社会性质却有着很大的不同。由此造就了两种不同的税收法律文化:一个是有限专制,分权制衡的法治精神孕育成长;一个是绝对专制,集权体制下奉行人治的税收制度。这两种税收法律文化作为社会上层建筑的一部分,对两国走上不同的社会发展道路和两国间近代以来税收文化的发展落差,有着一定的作用。 Both China and Britain in the 16th century, on the face of them, were all autocratic feudal dynasties, but their social nature was quite different. The result is two different types of legal and taxation laws: one is the rule of law with limited autocracy and a decentralized system of checks and balances, and one is the tax system of absolute autocracy and the rule of man under the centralized system. As part of the superstructure of society, these two tax laws and cultures play a certain role in embarking on different social development paths and in the tax culture development gap between the two countries in modern times.