Alarming Numbers: Is the Government Listening?

Alarming Numbers: Is the Government Listening?China Times editorial (Taipei, Taiwan, ROC)
A Translation
August 28, 2010

The government recently made public three sets of numbers. These numbers, which came from the Executive Yuan Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS), the Financial Data Center, and the Ministry of the Interior, revealed a consistent trend. The gap between rich and poor is greater than it was a decade ago. Actually, the numbers are merely the tip of the iceberg. The structural problems behind the numbers are even more important. These problems, which include an imbalanced, unjust tax structure, are not problems the poor can remedy by themselves. These are problems for which the government is clearly responsible. If the government concentrates only on changing industry structure, and ignores tax reform, it will not be enough.
The economy is booming this year. The DGBAS has revised its GDP growth rate upward, to 8.24%, a 20 year record high. Department stores in Taipei held a "VIP Night." In six hours they set a record by selling over 800 million NT in merchandise. Wives of wealthy tycoons used their credit cards to buy jewelry. They made staggeringly extravagant single purchases as high as 70 million NT. By contrast, those at the bottom of the economic ladder, are living from hand to mouth. Even average wage earners are making less than they did 10 years ago, after accounting for inflation. They have become the working poor.

The DGBAS Family Income and Expenditure Survey has five income tax categories. Between 2000 and 2009, the ratio between the disposable income of the poorest 20% and the wealthiest 20% increased from 5.57 times to 8.22 times. This does not include social welfare and tax revenue transfers. The Ministry of Finance Finanicial Data Center (FDC) has 20 income tax categories. Between 1998 and 2008, the income gap between the wealthiest 5% and the poorest 5% increased from 33 times to 66 times. Both numbers were record highs.

The DGBAS and FDC findings may or may not have blind spots. The former relies mainly on questionnaires. It has access to over 13,000 samples. But in fact gaining access to both the very rich and the very poor is extremely difficult. The questionnaire does not include real estate transactions and stock market gains. The Financial Data Center bases its findings mainly on the "taxable income" of over 5.4 million taxpayers. Capital gains and overseas income are not included. Therefore, these two statistics seriously underestimate the true gap between rich and poor. Second quarter Ministry of the Interior statistics showed a total of 108,000 poor families, and 260,000 poor people, Both reached record highs. But the survey does not include the "nouveau pauvres" able to work but unable to find jobs because industries relocated or went under due to lack of competitiveness. Low tech, low wage, and low income workers are members of the near poor, hence ineligible for government subsidies. According to conservative estimates, Taiwan has nearly one million nouveau pauvres. These invisible poor find it nearly impossible to share in the fruits of economic growth.

The FDC Family Income and Expenditure Survey found that over the past 10 years the average disposable income of the lowest income group has fallen from 275,000 NT to 222,000 NT. It has regressed to the level of 1991. People are asking questions. If the fruits of economic growth cannot be shared among all citizens, what is the point of such economic growth?

The growing gap between rich and poor is due in part to the impact of globalization and imbalances in industry structure. But an even bigger problem is an unfair tax system. As the DGBAS numbers show, the government has narrowed the wealth gap by means of social welfare and tax measures. Of the two, social welfare is becoming more important, while taxes are becoming less important. The impact of taxes two years ago was 0.16 times. Last year it fell to 0.13 times. The impact of the income tax has shrunk to the point where it is almost undetectable.

The Republic of China is the one of the world's few nations that do not tax capital gains. In recent years, it has continued to give tax cuts to the rich, further increasing the gap between the rich and the poor. The government's improper tax cuts have resulted in a loss of tax revenue, and increased financial constraints on the government. The central government debt will reach a peak in 2011. In a vicious cycle, fiscal difficulties will directly impact social welfare and education. Even civil service salaries may be impacted. Interior Ministry officials say frankly that "The real problem on Taiwan is that the government never taxes the rich."

Internationally, income inequality is usually measured by means of the Gini Coefficient. The higher the number, the greater the gap between rich and poor. Singapore, Mainland China, and Hong Kong have wealth gaps more serious than Taiwan. The Nordic countries, Japan, and South Korea, have wealth gaps less serious than Taiwan. Do we want to compare ourselves against our betters? Or our inferiors? If we compare ourselves against ourselves ten years ago, we find the wealth gap on Taiwan has increased significantly. We have over a million newly poor and near poor families scattered over all corners of our society. They are not included in the statistics. Yet President Ma had the chutzpah to say that "The wealth gap on Taiwan is not that serious."

Poor people rarely have the opportunity to speak out on their own behalf. Even when they do, no one listens. If the Ma administration is only willing to put a gloss on the economic growth figures, if it persists in complacency, if it ignores the increasing gap between rich and poor, the poor can do little about it.

Three years ago, President Ma criticized the ruling Chen administration. He said, "It is deeply regrettable that the Chen administration has turned a blind eye to the urgent needs of newly poor families." President Ma has been in office for over two years. The public must now ask President Ma whether he hears the voices of the poor.

驚人的數據，主政者聞出警訊嗎
2010-08-28
中國時報

最近官方公布的三項統計數字，從主計處、財稅資料中心到內政部的統計皆呈現一致的趨勢，即國內貧富差距問題比十年前來得嚴重。其實，統計數字所呈現的只是冰山一角，更重要的是數字背後隱藏的結構問題，包括失衡的產業結構與不公的稅制，這些問題並非窮人自己可以解決，政府當然責無旁貸。不過，如果政府僅著眼於產業結構的調整，卻忽視租稅改革，這是不夠的。

今年景氣大好，主計處上修ＧＤＰ成長率至八．二四％，創下廿一年新高。台北百貨公司舉辦貴賓之夜，六小時創下八億多元的消費奇蹟，貴婦人刷卡買珠寶，一出手就是七千萬元，令人咋舌；相對地，生活在社會最底層的窮人，日子一直苦哈哈，即使是一般薪水階級，十年來的薪資成長扣除通膨之後，實際是負成長，成了窮忙族。

主計處家庭收支調查以五等分位計，最富有二○％與最窮二 ○％可支配所得差距（未納入社福與租稅移轉收支），從二○○○年的六．五七倍增至二○○九年的八．二二倍。財稅資料中心依綜合所得資料分為二十等份，最富有五％與最窮五％的所得差距，從一九九八年的卅三倍增加至二○○八年的六十六倍，兩項統計均創歷史新高。

不論主計處或財稅資料中心的統計均有盲點，前者主要透過問卷調查，訪問一萬三千多個樣本，但實際上很難訪問到真正的富人與窮人，問卷內容也不包括大筆買賣房地產交易與進出股市獲利的所得；財稅資料中心以五百四十多萬納稅人「課稅所得」為主，而資本利得、海外所得均不在報稅範圍內，因此這兩項統計均嚴重低估了貧富差距的真實情況。至於內政部貧窮家庭統計，截至今年第二季止共有十萬八千戶，貧窮人數達廿六萬多人，雙雙創下歷史新高。不過這項統計不包括因產業外移或競爭力不足，有工作能力卻找不到工作的新貧一族；以及低技術、低薪資且被排除在政府低收入補助標準外的近貧一族。保守估計，國內新貧與近貧一族逾百萬人，這些看不見的窮人幾乎無法分享到經濟成長果實。

值得注意的是，主計處家庭收支調查，十年來，最低所得組平均可支配所得不增反減，從廿七萬五千元降為廿二萬二千元，已退步到一九九一年水準。民眾要問，如經濟成長果實無法由全民共享，這樣的成長有什麼意義呢？

貧富差距不斷惡化，除了來自於全球化衝擊、產業結構失衡，更大問題在於稅制不公。主計處的統計可以看出，政府透過社會福利與租稅工具縮小貧富差距，其中，社會福利的比重越來越高，而租稅的效果卻越來越小，前年租稅效果還有○．一六倍，去年甚至降至○．一三倍，租稅的功能不斷萎縮，幾乎快要看不見了。

台灣是全球少數給予資本利得免稅的國家，近年又不斷為富人減稅，進一步擴大貧富差距。政府不當減稅的後果，造成稅收減少，財政更加拮据，中央政府債務餘額將在民國一百年達到最高峰；在惡性循環下，財政困難將直接衝擊政府各項社福、教育支出，甚至連為公務員加薪都辦不到。內政部官員不諱言「台灣真正的問題是，永遠課不到有錢人的稅。」

在國際上，通常以吉尼係數做比較，數字越高表示貧富差距越大，新加坡、中國、香港的貧富差距均比台灣嚴重；北歐各國、亞洲的日本、南韓則比台灣小。我們究竟要比好的，還是比爛的？如果自己跟自己比，相較於十年前，台灣的貧富差距顯著惡化，而且還有逾百萬的新貧與近貧族散布在各個角落，未列入統計。在這樣的情況下，馬總統卻說：「台灣貧富差距還不算太差。」

窮人平常很少有發言的機會，即使有，也沒人肯聽。如果馬政府只看到表面亮麗的經濟成長數字，即沾沾自喜，無視於貧富差距擴大的事實，窮人也莫可奈何。

三年前，馬總統曾批評當時的扁政府「看不到新貧族的迫切需求，令人遺憾」；如今馬總統就任二年多，人民也要問問馬總統，是否聽到了窮人的聲音？