The Ministry of Finance yesterday blocked 13 tax reduction bills proposed by lawmakers, which, if they had passed, would have seen tax revenues shrink by NT$77 billion (US$2.4 billion) a year.
The legislature's Finance Committee met yesterday to amend Article 17 of the Income Tax Law (所得稅法).
Faced with a wide array of tax abatement proposals that covered everything from education expenditure to house rents to cultural performance sponsorships, Minister of Finance Ho Chih-chin (
He said that as a total of 12.5 million people out of the nation's 23 million population do not have to file income tax returns or enjoy a zero percent tax rate, the ministry believed that direct subsidies, instead of tax reductions, would have a greater impact.
In addition, a major tax reduction bill that passed preliminary review in the legislature last week could now face obstacles.
Last Wednesday, the committee agreed that reductions on tuition fees would be raised from NT$25,000 per household to NT$25,000 per student. Children aged between 3 and 5 would benefit from the proposal, although the measure would cost the treasury NT$4 billion if approved.
Democratic Progressive Party lawmakers reversed the proposal yesterday, citing flaws in the committee meeting records.
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