Abstract: The codification of China's tax code should reach a compromise between systematization and compilation， and focus upon improving the quality of legislation and responding to the practical needs of tax collection and management. It should formulate the general provisions of tax laws to achieve necessary abstraction and leading utility， and compile the specific tax laws as the specific provisions to maintain the existing legislative achievements and normative system as much as possible. The general provisions of tax laws should uphold the practical characters of responding to social and economic life， which should consider the difficult problems of tax collection activities in a forward-looking way， stipulate the basic concepts， principles and systems that have great influence on tax collection and management， focus upon the formulation idea that providing the basis can be quoted or referred to by law applicators， and strengthen the supplementary role of the norms in the case of the specific rules' weak responsiveness. China should also maintain a certain degree of system openness， give the administration and judiciary space to reconstruct rules， explore innovative ways to draw ideas of the formulation and revision of general provisions from tax enforcement and judicial activities， and transform the rules that can be repeatedly applied into the general provisions of tax laws， so as to achieve the updating of the legal norms and enhance the inclusiveness and responsiveness of China's tax code.

Key words: general provisions of tax law; tax code; practical character; system openness; tax collection and management