铸币税是随着经济社会的发展而产生的，其内涵和外延在不同的阶段逐渐深化和扩大。实物货币时代和金属货币早期，不具备产生铸币税的条件，因而也就没有铸币税。到金属货币后期，铸币者发现不足值的贵金属货币同样可以按照面额在市场上流通，于是成色和重量不足的金属货币开始在市场上流通，铸币税由此产生，后来这种利益为统治阶层利用攫取铸币税收入。纸币发行时代，铸币税的收入随着成本的降低逐渐扩大。信用货币时代，铸币税的范围进一步扩大。除纸币以外，中央银行开出的支票和投放的贷款也被视为获得铸币税的一种手段。可见，铸币税作为发行者的一项收入是始终存在的，而且这种收入往往会给发行者带来意想不到的收益。发行者可以利用铸币税收入来弥补财政赤字，但是当发行者为了弥补财政赤字而过量发行货币的时候，就会引发通货膨胀，甚至是经济危机。自由竞争条件下私人机构拥有货币发行权，带来的好处就是货币币值稳定，经济运行良好。在货币发行史上曾经出现过货币的良好运行情况，比如汉初的“文景”时期、唐朝“贞观”时期以及清末民初国民党政府垄断货币发行权以前，这些恰恰都是自由竞争时期。但是好景不长，当政府发现了垄断货币铸造发行权可以获得无限的铸币税收益时，货币的铸造发行权就逐渐收归国有，而通货膨胀也基本上成为这些时期不可避免的共同结局。不论是历史上的金属货币时期还是近现代历史上的纸币时期以至于当今的信用货币时期，都不可避免地出现类似的通货膨胀问题。可见自由铸造发行能够有效的规范政府行为，避免通货膨胀。然而，货币的自由铸造发行在历史上仅仅是昙花一现，因为它不符合我们的政治制度和现实情况，我们无法建立完全自由铸造发行的货币发行制度，现实可行的办法是建立一个较好的货币发行制度来降低通货膨胀发生的可能性。本文在最后一部分着重探讨了货币发行权的选择问题，即建立一个独立的中央银行来发行货币，因为这样的机构能够在不受政府政策干预下，独立的根据市场情况制定货币发行政策，政府无权从中央银行获得借款弥补财政赤字，从而保证把通货膨胀控制在最低的水平上。或者由政府发行货币，但是要根据经济的发展情况规定政府的货币发行数量，加强对政府的监督，那么也可以有效的控制通货膨胀的发生。

Seigniorage comes into being with the development of economics, and its connotation and extension of different stages is gradually deepening and expanding. In the early age of physical and metal currency, there is no condition to have Seigniorage. Until the later of metal currency, coins were found less than the monetary value of precious metals but it can also be in circulation in the market in accordance with the denomination. Finally, the metal currency with shortage of fineness and weight in circulation in the market results to seigniorage, bringing the interests to the ruling class that uses it to grab revenue. In the era of notes issue, seigniorage revenue gradually expands with lower costs. After entering the era of credit currency, the scope of seigniorage further expands. In addition to banknotes, the check of central bank and the loan are also considered seigniorage. Therefore, seigniorage revenue is always existed as the income and often brings unexpected gains to the publisher. Seigniorage income can be used to offset deficits, but it will lead to inflation, or even economic crisis when the publisher issues excessive currency to make up budget deficit. Under the conditions of free competition，the private sector have the right to issue currency, so the currency is stable and the economy is operating well. The currency has been in a good operation in history, such as the early Han Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty "Zhenguan" period as well as bank notes in the early period, all of which are precisely the period of free competition. But great time is not last, when the government found a monopoly right to issue currency obtaining unlimited seigniorage income, the monetary authority to cast and issue is gradually nationalized, and the different periods of inflation has also become a common outcome inevitably. Whether in the history of metal currency or the period of notes, even present bank credits, similar inflation appears inevitably. So casting and publishing freely can standard the government's actions effectively and avoid inflation. However, the freedom of the currency issue in the history of casting is just a flash in the pan, because it does not comply with our political system and the reality. We are not able to establish a currency board system of complete freedom to cast and issue, so a realistic and practical approach is to establish a viable currency board system to reduce the possibility of inflation. The final part of this article focus on the discussion of the right to choose the currency, namely the establishment of an independent central bank to issue currency, because such a body can formulate monetary policy in accordance with the market conditions independently regardless of the interference of government policies, while the government has no right to borrow from the central bank to make up the deficit, controlling inflation to a minimum level. Another way is that the currency issued by the government, but the publishing number of currency must be stipulated and the government must be supervised, then the inflation can also be controlled effectively.