政治中的金錢知多少？台灣政治經費公開的法制評估

To What Extent Do We Know about Money in Politics? An Assessment of the Political Finance Disclosure Law in Taiwan

作為民主社群取得大規模之政治經費資訊的最主要方法，政治經費公開的法制實踐深遠地影響了公眾對於政治中的金錢能有多少認識與理解。藉由檢測台灣現行法制在立法與執行層面所分別存在的管制漏洞，本文嘗試系統性地評量我國的政治經費公開法制。本文主要指出，（1）台灣政治經費公開的完整度與確實性，主要受制於現行法制之諸多立法漏洞，以致不少政治經費，直接成了毋需或者無從申報的暗錢。（2）現行實務在查核與裁罰不實申報上，也有執行不足的隱憂，並從而使得部分公眾對於公開是否確實有所懷疑。本文建議這項法制的改革應揚棄政治獻金中心主義，以切實填補管制漏洞。 Disclosure is the most important means by which citizens in a democracy obtain information about money in electoral politics, and as such, the efficacy of the political finance disclosure determines, to a significant extent, what and how much we know about the actual workings of a political finance system. This study assesses political finance disclosure in Taiwan. While recognizing that sanctions against false disclosure are bound to be under-enforced, this study argues that loopholes in the coverage of the disclosure rules are the main culprits for the “dark money” in Taiwan politics. This study calls for a structural overhaul of the existing regime, the institutional performance of which is seriously hindered by a conventional misunderstanding of the purpose of political finance disclosure. In addition to tracking transactions of political finance at the retail level for the sake of informing voters and enforcing other rules governing political finance, an effective disclosure regime should strive to provide citizens with information about macro-political finance.