A Research on the Legislative Process of Income Tax in Meiji Japan

明治中期开始，日本政府为实现其富国强兵政策，采取了一系列增强财政收入的措施，当时的大藏省在相继进行地税改革以及试图恢复关税自主权之后，仍然没有扭转财政入不敷出的状况。在此情况下，以松方正义等为首的大藏省官员效仿欧美国家，开始将新的税制引入日本。通过对当时欧美各国税制进行反复研究，决定引进当时只在英国等极少数国家实行的所得税制。近代日本为何引进所得税？又是如何完成对所得税法的立法程序？在此过程中如何处理外来制度与本国传统及实际的矛盾？文章试图解答这些问题。Since the mid-Meiji period, to accomplish the national policy of Rich state and strong army, the Japan government adopted a series of measures to increase revenue. The Ministry of Finance (MOF) ifrstly carried out land tax reform and tried to restore the tariff autonomy, but that still failed to improve the ifscal situation. Under this circumstance the MOF ofifcials, leading by Matukata Masayoshi began to imitate the western states, and tried to bring new tax system into Japan. Through repeated studies on UK, German, US and other European countries, they decided to bring in the income tax, which existed only in UK and other few states then. Why and how did Japan choose to bring in income tax? And in what kind of way they dealt with the contradiction between foreign system and its own tradition and social reality? The essay would try to answer these questions.0239-4