Carrot and stick From the point of view of tax theory, says Sun Keh-nan, a fundamental function of any state is "concentrating the power of taxation." Also, finance theory emphasizes "deciding revenue based on expenditures" -the state should decide what public services and economic infrastructure it wants to provide, and then tax the population for this amount.
糖果與棍棒齊下再從租稅哲學去思考，孫克難指出，「集稅功能」是一個國家運作的根本基礎，而且財政講究「量出為入」──國家擘劃所需提供的公共服務及經濟建設，再據此向人民徵收稅賦。