兒童津貼財源籌措之探討

An Exploration of the Financing of Child Allowances

不少先進國家以兒童津貼保障兒童經濟安全，並與家庭共同承擔育兒責任。兒童津貼財源籌措方式主要為稅收制、社會保險制，各有其優缺點。本文主要目的在於：（1）探討社會福利的財源籌措原則；（2）介紹分析主要國家兒童津貼的財源籌措方式；（3）討論臺灣兒童津貼的財源籌措方式。研究結果顯示，社會保險在效率性、穩定性、永續性、專款專用性、透明性較具優勢，稅收制則在公平性、可徵收性、立即進帳性較具優勢。兩者在充足性、成長性、可負擔性、社會連帶性等不分軒輊。

Many advanced countries use child allowances to lessen the burden of parenting and to protect the basic economic security of children. Child allowances are generally financed in one of two ways: taxation and social insurance. Each modality has its advantages and limitations. This paper has the following three goals: 1) to examine the principles underlying the financing of social welfare; 2) to analyze and compare different ways of financing child allowances, primarily in advanced countries; 3) to discuss the possible ways of financing child allowances in Taiwan. The research shows that social insurance performs better in terms of efficiency, stability, sustainability, ring-fencing, and transparency, but taxation performs better in terms of equity, collectability, and immediate revenue flow. The two modalities perform equally well in terms of sufficiency, growth, affordability, and solidarity.