以遺產稅資料分析我國財富分配不均與財富之組成

An Estate Tax Data Analysis of Wealth Inequality and Wealth Composition in Taiwan

伍大開(Da-Kai Wu) ； 陳國樑(Joe Chen)

《經濟論文叢刊》 46卷4期 (2018/12) Pp. 523-567

https://doi.org/10.6277/TER.201812_46(4).0002

摘要

本文藉由2001年至2015年遺產稅申報資料，分析台灣財富分配不均及財富組成情形。研究結果發現財富分配不均程度近年來之逐漸增加，與金融資產愈趨集中於富人相關；此外，財富集中的分配不均情形，不僅發生在貧富之間，單就富人族群，也可觀察到財富集中化的現象。在財富組成部分則可觀察到，相較於不動產與其他非金融資產，國人漸趨偏好金融資產，其原因可能在於，遺產稅有效稅率下降，減少持有不動產以規避租稅的誘因。雖然金融資產占財富總額比例增加，但土地仍為國人主要持有財產。本文另外以迴歸模型探討遺產稅有效稅率與財富組成的關係，其結果顯示，遺產稅有效稅率對於土地占財富總額比例為顯著正相關，對於存款與投資占財富總額比例則為顯著負相關，代表個體面對較高的租稅負擔，傾向利用稅制之下土地評價低估的方式獲取租稅利益。稅制不但扭曲個人對於資產種類的選擇，也影響個體資產配置的決策。

關鍵字

財富分配不均 ； 財富組成 ； 遺產稅

並列摘要

Based on estate tax returns from 2001 to 2015 and using the estate multiplier method to blow up the sample of decedents to represent the number of the living, this paper analyzes wealth inequality and wealth composition in Taiwan. The results suggest that the degree of wealth inequality has gradually increased in recent years, in accordance with the observation that financial assets became more concentrated. In addition, the concentration of wealth and the resulting inequality is not only between the rich and the poor; it also happens within the rich group. At the same time, the results suggest a tendency to hold more financial assets as opposed to real estate and other non-financial assets. One of the possible explanations is that the decreasing effective tax rate of the estate tax reduces incentives to hold real estates for tax benefits. Despite the increase in the proportion of financial assets, land is still the major choice of property holding as measured by the ratio of wealth. The second part of the study uses regression analyses to explore the relationship between the effective tax rate (of the estate tax) and the composition of wealth. Results show that the effective estate tax rate is positively correlated with the ratio of land to total wealth, and negatively correlated with the ratio of deposits and investment. These results show that when facing a higher tax burden, individuals tend to take advantage of the undervaluing of land in the current tax system to obtain tax benefits. This adds to existing evidence that taxes distorts individuals' choice of asset types, and affects individuals' decisions on asset allocation.

並列關鍵字

wealth inequality ； wealth composition ； estate tax

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