Minister of Finance Lin Chuan (林全) was sworn into office yesterday. He vowed to follow through on financial and tax reforms while minimizing its impact on society and markets.
"[Financial] reforms will not be stopped, since they concern the nation's future competitiveness," Lin said during a press conference after the ceremony.
Lin said that he would soon solicit legislative support and push for passage of the proposed NT$1.05 trillion Financial Restructuring Fund (
He, however, shrugged off reporters' questions seeking clarification on changes to reform policies, saying he needs more time to study current plans and find a balance between short-term spending and long-term financial and fiscal stability.
Despite the central government's growing deficit, Lin, said he would not raise taxes -- including a new capital-gains tax on securities trading profits (證券所得稅) -- in line with President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) campaign promises.
Lin, a tax expert, helped formulate Chen's financial white paper in early 2000 before he was elected president. The paper proposed levying a tax on capital gains. The controversial proposal, however, panicked so many stock investors that Chen had to publicly announce that he would not raise taxes if elected.
Following Lin's appointment last Thursday, the media has pushed for answers as to whether he will pursue his former proposal and introduce the tax.
But Lin yesterday gave a clear-cut answer: No.
"It's a long-term ideal that requires medium and-short term support measures to facilitate," Lin said. "For the time being, we have no plans to levy the tax."
Lin also emphasized the importance of talent.
"Human capital is the [ministry's] most precious asset ... I have no plan to reshuffle the ministry in the near future," Lin said.
The Executive Yuan, meanwhile, has given the finance ministry the green light to push for legal revisions to reduce the rice-wine tax in the upcoming legislative sessions before re-opening negotiations with Taiwan's WTO trade partners.
"In a move to combat bootleg wine, rice-wine prices may drop to between NT$60 and NT$50 [per 0.6-liter bottle] after the revisions are passed as early as January," Vice Minister of Finance Sam Wang (
Taxation on distilled wine will be revised and set by retail price rather than by quantity, in accordance with Taiwan's WTO agreement, he said.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
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