An Empirical Study on the Determinants of Individual Charitable Giving

個人捐贈為教育、文化及公益慈善機構或團體的重要經費來源，目前我國於租稅上，提供捐贈者可扣抵其課稅所得的租稅誘因，相當於政府利用補貼的方式，降低了捐贈者的捐贈成本。但是否能有效達到激勵捐贈者的效果，則待實證研究分析。 本研究利用民國92年綜合所得稅申報資料分析，實證結果得知，慈善捐贈金額與可支配所得呈正向且顯著的關係；租稅價格變動對慈善捐贈金額變動有負向且顯著之影響，顯示目前政府的租稅政策能夠有效刺激捐贈，但針對高所得者價格彈性的有效性則降低。薪資所得佔可支配所得比率與捐贈金額呈正向之關係。納稅義務人的年齡越大、未婚、女性，較有慈善捐贈的意願。但納稅人申報扶養親屬人數較多及申報自用住宅購屋借款利息較多者，捐贈意願較低。最後，納稅義務人所在的地區也會影響其捐贈支出，隨著納稅人可支配所得增加，地域性的影響也逐漸減小。Individual charitable giving is an important source of finance for a wide variety of nonprofit organizations. Charitable contributions are deductible in determining taxable income; therefore, the current income tax system makes the price of charitable contributions less than the price of other goods and services. The deduction can be viewed as a tax subsidy. Whether the tax subsidy can stimulate charitable giving or not should be examined by empirical research. This study uses tax return data obtained from the Taiwan Government Finance and Tax Statistical Databank (for the year 2004). The results indicate that the income elasticity of charitable giving has positive and significant effect on charitable giving; while the tax price elasticity estimate is found to have a negative effect, except for the group of high income taxpayers. Beside price and income, salary to disposable income ratio varies with the giving. Female, married, and elder taxpayers are more likely to donate. However, a taxpayer who claims more deductions for dependents or primary residential house interests will be reluctant to give money to charities. The taxpayer’s registered permanent residence is found to have a strong influence on charitable giving. Nevertheless, as taxpayer’s disposable income increases, the regional factor is diminished gradually. The evidence presented in this study provides a useful foundation for the government to devise the future policy on the charitable deductions