The government yesterday approved a revised draft bill to give new investments by high-tech manufacturers and technology services a five-year tax break, the Cabinet said in a statement.
The tax break -- applied to investments made by newly established or expanded manufacturing companies as well as related technology service firms -- will be available through Jan. 1 this year and the end of next year, the Cabinet said.
The revised draft bill is designed to encourage manufacturers to make new investments, thereby cutting the jobless rate and stimulating the economy, the statement said, citing Premier Yu Shyi-kun.
Yu also said in the report the move will benefit the nation's economic development, adding that he has instructed the Ministry of Economic Affairs to coordinate with the Legislative Yuan to pass the draft bill as soon as possible.
The legislature -- which could take several weeks to discuss the draft -- is slated to end the current session in June.
At a press conference held after yesterday's Cabinet meeting, Vice Premier Lin Hsin-yi (
But Lin failed to specify any minimum investment limit to qualify for the tax breaks.
Lin said he hopes the draft bill will help create at least 50,000 job opportunities this year.
Echoing Lin's optimism, Ho Mei-yueh (
According to statistics compiled by the economics ministry, the output of the manufacturing sector in 2001 declined by 8.23 percent, among which industrial output decreased by 7.88 percent, while the light industrial sector suffered a drop of 9.23 percent.
Last year about 5,187 factories closed in Taiwan, compared with 4,995 in 2000, which left some 206,000 people without jobs because of the closures, up 116,000 from the previous year.
Since late last year the government has been working on plans for a five-year tax break for both local and foreign businesses that make Taiwan their regional operations headquarters.
RSS