The Ministry of Finance plays a very important role in the government. In a country with a cabinet system, such as the United Kingdom, the position of minister with responsibility for the handling of finances is usually considered the second highest-ranking member of the government under the Prime Minister. The Ministry of Finance takes care of the government revenues and expenditures of the country in order to serve the people of the country and is thus a fundamental element of the government’s administration.

In the development of democratic political system, taxation and finance are major factors that usually touch off a reform.

The Ministry of Finance was established by the Provisional Government after the founding of the Republic of China. Chen Jin-Tao, a well-known banker of the late Ching was nominated as the first Minister of Finance. Under his supervision were the Secretarial Bureau, Tax Bureau, Treasury Bureau, Accounting Bureau, Monetary Bureau and Government Bond Bureau.

After Yuan Shih-Kai became the second term interim President of the Republic of China in Beijing, the Beiyang Government also established a Ministry of Finance. The function of Beiyang Ministry of Finance was forced to become a money-borrower for government due to the absence of a stable system of government as cabinets rose and fell so constantly and local warlords controlled most of the country outside the capital.

There was also an Agency of Finance under Dr. Sun Yat-Sen’s Southern Government, later also called the Ministry of Finance. However, since the country was not united at that time, the functions and effect of the Ministry of Finance were limited.

In January, 1925, the National Government officially established the Ministry of Finance in Canton by the ‘The Organic Law of the Finances of the National Government.’ The National Government started to establish a united financial system, beginning with managing the financial issues of Kwangtung Province in order to provide military supplies to the Northern Expedition.

After the successful ending of the Northern Expedition, the Republic of China started to push for the unification of the financial system of the entire country and began several reforms.

With the promulgation of the ‘Law of the Organization of the Ministry of Finance’ in December, 1928, the Customs Agency, Salt Agency, General Bureau, Tax Bureau, Government Bond Bureau, Monetary Bureau, Treasury Bureau, Accounting Bureau, Department of Tobacco & Alcohol Tax, Department of Stamp Tax, and the Department of Cigarettes & Kerosene Tax were created under the Law.

The Ministry of Finance revised its ‘Organic Law’ several times between 1928 and 1943. However, the entire organization was reduced in size after the Republic of China moved to Taiwan in 1949 and many branches and personnel were de-activated.

The ‘Organic Law’ was not revised for a long time until 1981 when a large scale revision was made. Under the new system, the Ministry of Finance established the Department of Customs Administration, Department of Monetary Affairs, Department of General Affairs, Secretariat, Department of Personnel, Department of Accounting, Department of Statistics, National Treasury Agency, Taxation Agency, Legal Affairs Committee, National Property Administration, District National Tax Administrations, Taipei Disbursement Office, Financial Data Center, Directorate-General of Customs, Training Institute, and Securities and Futures Commission.

In the 1980s, in order to promote the liberalization and internationalization of both finance and insurance, the Ministry of Finance re-established the Bureau of Monetary Affairs to replace the Department of Monetary Affairs, and the Bureau of Insurance to replace the Insurance Section. The law was again revised in 1991.

In order to consolidate financial supervision, during 2004 the supervision of banking, insurance and securities which was originally under the Ministry of Finance, was transferred to the Financial Supervisory Commission of the Executive Yuan.

The reform and enlargement of the financial organizations has provided a huge amount of historical data to study. For example, the creation of the first western-administered Customs in 1854, could be traced to the late Ching Dynasty, and the Customs was even entrusted with the tasks to help the establishment of the postal service and the provision of assistance to set up the naval service. In addition, many important reforms and measures were closely related to the Ministry of Finance such as the establishment of the Central Bank of China, the reorganization of the Armed Forces, the repair and construction of hydraulic facilities.

Even the Tax Police Regiment also played a very important role during the early stage of the Sino-Japanese War of 1937-1945 by going to the front line.

At present, all the data related to the Ministry of Finance of the National Government have been turned over to the Academia Historica and are available to all researchers.