Abstract: The fiscal system is an extremely important national system as the fiscal aspect fully reflects the public nature of national system; such nature is shaped in a long process. By comparing Huang Zongxi's and Locke's thoughts on public finance, this paper concretely presents the development process and historical differences of the public finance system in China and the West in the 17th century, focusing on the following four aspects: the nature of fiscal power, the source of property rights, the control of tax collection, and the leader of fiscal management. The paper finds, 1) as Huang Zongxi's thought does not distinguish the political society and the government through two contractual processes, Locke's contribution, the publicity he advocates is difficult to be implemented,and it, expected by Huang, relies on the engagement of future “emperors” to pave the way; 2) without a solid property right theory, Huang just emphasizes the constraint of fiscal power with objective low quota; 3) the proposition that schools composed of intellectual elites play a deliberative role in fiscal management falls into no results. Instead, Locke's thought, based on the perfect social contract theory, distinguishes the political society and the government, thus highlighting the publicity and creatively developing a solid property right theory emphasizing that the parliament composed of economic elites determines the tax amount through public deliberation to restrict the collection power. The difference between Huang's and Locke's thoughts, to a large extent, does not lies in their thinking ability, but the different stages of national development. As Huang's thought mainly summarizes the traditional fiscal thought of imperial China, his some ideas for the future could not develop too much. Locke's thought, thought with some shadow of the Western Middle Ages, more reflects the design of modern finance by then British thinkers who had already crossed the threshold of modern states. The gradual expansion of fiscal openness has been reflected in the historical development of China and the United Kingdom.

Key words: Huang Zongxi, Locke, fiscal thought, publicity