按照西方中古赋税理论, 国王征收赋税须取得纳税人同意。与此不同, 中国古代帝王征收赋役无需征得民众的同意。然而, 为了有效地统治社会, 历代的帝王、官僚及文人们为证明皇帝征税役权的合法性作了大量的解释和说明, 由此形成了中国特有的赋役基本理论, 即“皇帝家天下论”。西方赋税基本理论中的“同意”原则是以强调纳税人的权利来限制国王的税权, 使赋税公平, 从而实现公共利益。而中国赋役基本理论力图证明皇帝具有天经地义的征赋役权, 是以牺牲全社会的利益来满足皇帝一家的私利。中西赋税理论的巨大差异是由各自的社会状况造成的。具体来说首先取决于征税者与纳税(役) 人的身份及力量对比, 其次则是由于中西文化及社会普遍观念的不同。

According to the medieval Western theory of taxation, a king could levy taxes only with the consent of taxpayers.On the contrary, an ancient Chinese emperor levied taxes and corvee, dispensing with people's consent.In order to effectively reign over society, however, monarchs, officials and men of letters in all dynasties made a lot of explanations and illustrations to demonstrate legitimacy of emperors' levying taxes, thus constructing a basic theory of taxation endemic to China.that is, a theory about an emperor's possession of all land and people under the heaven.The great difference between Chinese and Western theories of taxation was caused by their own social conditions, including a contrast of tax-gatherers' and tax-payers' status and power, and different Chinese and Western cultures and social universal ideas.