To ease pressure in the wake of gasoline price increases, the Ministry of Finance yesterday said it would halve tariffs on gasoline and diesel oil to cut costs for importers and spur import volumes.
The ministry will slash import tariffs on gasoline from the current 10 percent to 5 percent, and those for diesel oil from 5 percent to 2.5 percent for a period of six months, in accordance with Article 71 of the Customs Law (
Tariff proposal
The proposal will be submitted to the Cabinet soon, before the implementation date is announced, Chien said.
The proposal to cut imported fuel tariffs was first announced by the Council for Economic Planning and Development on Tuesday night, before Chinese Petroleum Corp (
The council said the proposal was aimed at stabilizing prices and encouraging the private sector to increase imports. But officials at the finance ministry said it would do little to boost imports, as restrictions stipulated in the Petroleum Management Law (石油管理法) were the main reason import volumes are so low.
Imports
According to the ministry's latest statistics, Taiwan imported 93,403 liters of gasoline, worth NT$3.7 million (US$114,000), and 6,002 liters of diesel oil, worth NT$570,000, last year.
Asked whether the tariff-cut proposal would affect the government's tax revenue this year, the ministry said the impact would be limited.
Tax revenues from gasoline tariffs totaled only NT$370,000 last year, and this rate adjustment decision will only reduce tax revenues by about NT$100,000 during the six-month period, the ministry said.
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