從羅蘭•巴特（R. Barthes）的符號學解讀「取消軍教免稅方案」的意義

Interpreting the Meanings of the “Cancelling the Income Tax Exemption for Military Personnel and Teachers” from the View of Roland Barthes’ Semiotics

江森宇(Sen-Yu Chiang)

指導教授 ： 黃鉦堤

國立暨南國際大學/人文學院/公共行政與政策學系/碩士(2011年)

摘要

立法院於2011年1月7日三讀通過所得稅法修正案，取消軍教免稅措施。軍教免稅改革案將從明年元旦上路，後年5月就能課徵。該修正案的通過，約37萬軍教人員受到影響，預計每年能帶來112億元的稅收。在台灣政壇，當面臨租稅公平與選票考量時，政治人物大多以選票作為優先考量。循此，取消軍教人員免稅的政策討論多年，卻一直未能通過實施，主要在於立法院財政委員會要求要有完整的配套措施才肯放行。
在立院歷經十多年的政治角力，修訂的所得稅法終於通過。然而，為降低軍教人員的反彈，政府採取「課多少，補多少」的原則。財政部估算，軍教恢復課稅後，軍人部分增加的38億元稅收，將用來提高志願役的薪水。教師部分的74億元稅收，則用來增加國中小的行政輔導人力和導師費。儘管軍教課稅已三讀過關，但是「課多少，補多少」的做法，又再引發新的爭議。
本研究引用巴特（R. Barthes）的符號學作為研究途徑，因此將「取消軍教免稅方案」看成是一個被人符碼化的符號。據此，本研究一方面回顧軍教免稅方案的歷史發展與相關法規；二方面則彙整符號網絡中的各個利害關係人對於該符號的意義賦予；三方面則是闡述該符號的意義結構，意義結構包含語言層面的直接意指，以及神話層面的三種文化意義，分別是含蓄意指、迷思與象徵。從中，筆者有這樣的「自我理解」：個人對於現象的認知過程以及公共政策的制訂過程，其中皆充滿著弔詭性與偶變性，而且無法被實證。因此，本研究對於取消軍教免稅方案的論點，只是眾多可能的其中之一，惟仍希望可提供不同的研究途徑與思考理路。

關鍵字

羅蘭•巴特 ； 符號學 ； 軍教免稅 ； 直接意指 ； 含蓄意指 ； 迷思 ； 象徵

並列摘要

On January 7, 2011,the Legislature Yuan passed an amendment to the Income Tax Act to abolish the income tax immunity enjoyed by military personnel and some teachers. The reinstated taxation will be implemented starting from January 2012, and around 370,000 affected people would contribute another NT$12 billion annually in tax revenue. When considering both fair taxation and votes, the latter is always taken into first consideration, thus leading the former to be ignored in Taiwan’s political arena. Eliminating tax-exempt status for teachers and military personnel has been discussed for many years, but a resolution has not yet been reached. The main reason for the impasse over the past couple years is that the Legislature’s Finance Committee wanted complete measures in place before any moves were made.

The amendments of the Income Tax Act finally passed, after more than a decade of political wrangling. However, the government was forced to make concessions to avoid a revolt from the two professions. The Ministry of Finance estimate national coffers will be boosted by NT$3.8 billion from taxing soldiers’ salaries. That entire amount will be put towards raising soldiers’ salaries. Teachers meanwhile are expected to contribute NT$7.4 billion a year in taxes. That entire amount will be spent on increasing staff at public schools and raising teachers’ salaries. Though the amendment to the Income Tax Act has finally passed, the decision for any revenue from taxing military personnel and teachers’ salaries to be spent on those who are finally being taxed has sparked new controversy.

I applied the semiotics of Roland Barthes to my thesis, treating “cancelling the income tax exemption for military personnel and teachers” as an encoded sign. To begin with, this study reviewed historical development and related regulations of the Act. Next, compile the meanings given by different interested people in their symbol network. Finally, the thesis discussed the structure of meaning, which includes denotation in language level, and three kinds of cultural meanings in mythological level – connotation, myth and symbol. According to the above theory, I have the following self-interpretation : both paradox and contingency are the characteristics in the individual cognitive processes and in the decision-making process of public policy. Moreover, this kind of self-interpretation is hard to be empirically proved. Therefore, my arguments for the Act may be served as self-understanding. Hopefully, findings of this thesis may provide a new research approach and different thinking horizon to the policy study.

並列關鍵字

Roland Barthes ； semiotics ； the income tax exemption for military personnel and teachers ； denotation ； connotation ； myth ； symbol

參考文獻

CO CO（2011年1月）。政治漫畫。商業週刊，1208，48。

talan（2011年1月5日）。老農老漁年金，都是變體的18趴。資料來源：http://tw.myblog.yahoo.com/jw!.2E4tIyUERldEetBbl5HOA--/article?mid=202&prev=203&next=201

人本教育基金會（1995）。教師薪資免稅沿革調查。稅務旬刊，1958，21-23。

于居正（2011年1月10日）。課稅配套是彌補對國中小教育的虧欠，並非「課多少、補多少」。高雄市教育會網站：https://sites.google.com/a/kta.kh.edu.tw/indexpage/home/sys-message/important-message/2011110keshuipeitaoshimibuduiguozhongxiaojiaoyudekuiqianbingfeikeduoshaobuduoshao

中央社（2011年1月6日）。國立屏東教育大學「國中小教師恢復課稅配套意見調查」。資料來源：http://www.cna.com.tw/postwrite/cvpread.aspx?ID=74972。查閱日期：2011年5月1日，時間：23時。