On the Practice of Taxation of Political Parties and Organizations

• Main Authors: Chung-Nan Chin, 金仲南
• Other Authors: CHIANG-LIANG LIN
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2009
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/93707401137313432015

碩士 === 中原大學 === 會計研究所 === 97 === In a democratic constitutional system, the most important social responsibility of a political party is to promote the well-being of the people by realizing its political policies through election. Such activities require funding from all sorts of channels so that the party can sustain and grow. The majority of funds is from private donations and government subsidies. However, without proper regulation, the funds may be misused that violate social fairness and justice, or even served for personal interests. Therefore, it is necessary to establish a set of rules to regulate the uses of the funds. The most effective means of regulation is through taxes. The Political Donations Law, passed in 2004 and amended in 2008, also relies on taxation to regulate the uses of funds of political parties and organizations. The goal is to properly guide the activities of political organizations to ensure fairness and just, to strengthen democratic development, and to establish a clean government. This thesis will start with the definition, classification, and functions of political parties and organizations. This is followed by the main theme of the thesis: a study of taxation principles and incentives for political parties and organizations. The discussions are mainly based on our current tax laws, which state that any political organization can be exempted from taxes if it meets the standards of tax exemption for educational, cultural, public welfare, and charitable organizations. Except income tax, taxes that may be exempted include customs duty, estate and gift tax, value-added and non value-added sales tax, land value tax and land value-added tax, house tax, stamp duty, and amusement tax. However, for deed tax and vehicle license tax, there is currently no tax incentive for political organizations. In order to fully enjoy tax exemptions, a political party or organization must understand all related regulations. It is equally important to understand all rules regarding tax filing so as to avoid fines or even cancellation of tax exemption due to flaws in the filing procedure.