Minister of Finance Lin Chuan (
"Give me one more year to seek a sense of accomplishment," Lin said at a press conference yesterday. "There will be no point for me to stay on in the post, if nothing can be done."
This would allow his successor to have at least two years to work before President Chen Shui-bian's (
Showing no intention of lingering on his post but resolving to "doing something important," Lin said he might even resign if the Cabinet undergoes a reshuffle.
Last week, Lin said the ministry is proposing to levy a capital-gains tax on institutional and corporate investors as part of the government's planned "minimum tax" plan.
Yesterday morning, Lin also said the ministry has plans to terminate the tax-exemption status currently enjoyed by the nation's primary and junior high school teachers as well as military personnel, but his plan was opposed by lawmakers.
His remarks on capital-gains taxes, however, invited some comment among business circle.
During a breakfast meeting with a business group yesterday morning, he said that the proposed minimum tax on companies will be the lowest in the world, and whether to include the proposed capital-gains tax on institutional and corporate investors on their stock investmens is yet to be finalized.
"Lin promised that the minimum tax rates will be the lowest compared with other countries, and the ministry will discuss the issue with legal and financial experts before setting the final rates, as well as using the rates levied by neighboring countries as a reference," said Theodore Huang (
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
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
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
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],”