高齡社會與遺贈稅法－－以日本法制為借鏡

Aged Society and Estate and Gift Tax Act: Lessons from Japan

系所名稱：法律學研究所
學位別：碩士
畢業學年：106年
指導教授：葛克昌、黃詩淳
遺產稅及贈與稅係於人民死亡時，或是於其生前贈與財產時，對遺產或贈與人所課徵之稅捐。無論繼承或贈與，皆與人民的「財產代際移轉」息息相關，因此亦與民法中之繼承法關係密切。從日本的經驗可以得知，在高齡社會之下，老人繼承老人的現象，可能造成許多社會及經濟問題。同時，作為遺贈稅法基礎之繼承制度，甚或財產代際移轉制度之整體運作情況亦隨社會的高齡化而發生變化。具體言之，繼承權之根據已日漸受到挑戰，高齡者生前處分財產的正當性因而日漸提昇。面對此一現象，遺贈稅法必須重新檢討其定位。再加上，為解決高齡社會帶來之問題點，引導人數日漸增多之高齡者從事一定行為，以達成政策目的一事或屬必要，此時遺贈稅法亦為絕佳之工具。因此，為適應高齡社會之特性及解決其所帶來的問題，在我國社會高齡化日趨嚴重，且相關法律之修正亦開始注意到高齡社會問題之現今，正是重新檢討遺贈稅法的絕佳時機。日本創設與繼承稅法相關之各項租稅優惠，欲引導高齡者儘速於生前移轉財產給直系血親卑親屬，而非待其死亡時始經由繼承制度完成財產的代際移轉。藉此，日本期待讓需要財產以開展經濟生活及養育子女的年輕世代早日從長輩處獲得經濟支援。本文詳細介紹日本此類租稅優惠之內容，並就我國近年遺贈稅法改革與日本引進各種租稅優惠措施之修法取徑加以比較，並從經濟政策、憲法及民法等之觀點，認為在立法論上日本之相關制度確實可作為我國之參考，並期待本文能成為後續討論之引玉磚。

Estate and gift tax are imposed when people die or give a gift to others, and both inheritance and gift are closely related to the “intergenerational property transfer” and inheritance law. Lessons from Japan can be learned that in aged society, the phenomenon of the elderly’s inheriting the property of the elderly may cause many social and economic problems. At the meantime, the operation of the inheritance law, which is the basis of Estate/inheritance tax law, and even the intergenerational property transfer will change with the aging of the society. To be more specific, the basis for inheritance has been increasingly challenged, and the legitimacy of the elderly person's disposition of his/her property is increasing. In this situation, we must re-examine the role of Estate and Gift Tax Act. Besides, in order to solve the problems brought by aged society and to guide the increasing number of elderly people to engage in certain acts so as to achieve policy goals, we need to make good use of Estate and Gift Tax Act. Therefore, in order to adapt the law to aged society and to solve the problems brought about by it, now that the aging of our society is becoming more and more serious and the amendment of the related laws have begun to pay attention to the present situation, it is the best time to re-examine our Estate and Gift Tax Act now.Japan created Inheritance Tax Law related tax preferences to guide the elderly to give their property to his/her inferior lineal relatives by gift, rather than dthe intergenerational transfer of property through the inheritance law until death. In this way, young generation who need property to carry out their economic life and raise children can get financial support from the elders. This article introduced in detail the content of such tax preferences in Japan, and compared Taiwan's recent amendment of Estate and Gift Tax Act with the way Japan changed its Inheritance Tax. In conclusion, from the perspective of economic policy, constitution and civil law, it is believed that Japan’s method is a model for Taiwan.