Rock Hsu (許勝雄), who chairs Kinpo Group (金仁寶集團), one of the biggest electronics groups in the country, yesterday urged the government to drastically cut taxes on local businesses as part of its broader plan to help the nation’s economy weather the worst downturn in decades.
As the global economy continues to plague the nation’s exporters and economic growth, the government should take quick action to spur domestic demand — the other pillar of Taiwan’s GDP — to help buoy the economy, Hsu said during a luncheon with reporters.
“We can do nothing about demand for exports, but we can try to simulate economic activity at home via the financial tools we have at our disposal,” Hsu said. “Government efficiency is crucial in these hard times.”
Hsu, a member of the Presidential Economic Advisory Panel, is helping the government hammer out a new economic stimulus package. Government statistics showed that the nation’s GDP this year could fall into negative territory for the first time since 2001.
To help lift private investment and domestic consumption, the government should halve business income tax, or at least lower the tax to 17.5 percent from 25 percent, Hsu said.
The proposed cut was bigger than an initial agreement reached by the tax reform committee led by the Ministry of Finance, which has sought to lower business income tax to 20 percent.
If approved by the legislature, the new taxation would come into force next year.
Kinpo owns the world’s second-largest notebook computer maker Compal Electronics Inc (仁寶), which makes laptops for the world’s biggest PC makers Dell Inc and Hewlett Packard Co.
Hsu said the government should scrap the tax on retained net profits in the near term to help local electronics makers obtain more operational cash, as a large number of local companies were losing money fast amid falling orders.
“The tax cut idea is not new,” Hsu said. “Government officials have been talking about tax reforms for a while and now is the time to realize that most countries are doing the same thing to save their economies.”
The global economy dropped at an unprecedented rate and could take longer to recover than expected, Hsu said.
A revival should begin early next year at the earliest, Hsu said. However, rather than the L-shaped revival predicted by Morris Chang (張忠謀), chairman of the world’s largest contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電), the revival would be a U-shaped one, he said.
Hsu said the government should invest in the future by helping students complete their school education using public funds, or help the unemployed receive training.
“I believe such education programs would help the nation generate the energy it will need to jump on new opportunities when recovery arrives,” Hsu said.
The Eurovision Song Contest has seen a surge in punter interest at the bookmakers, becoming a major betting event, experts said ahead of last night’s giant glamfest in Basel. “Eurovision has quietly become one of the biggest betting events of the year,” said Tomi Huttunen, senior manager of the Online Computer Finland (OCS) betting and casino platform. Betting sites have long been used to gauge which way voters might be leaning ahead of the world’s biggest televised live music event. However, bookmakers highlight a huge increase in engagement in recent years — and this year in particular. “We’ve already passed 2023’s total activity and
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) today announced that his company has selected "Beitou Shilin" in Taipei for its new Taiwan office, called Nvidia Constellation, putting an end to months of speculation. Industry sources have said that the tech giant has been eyeing the Beitou Shilin Science Park as the site of its new overseas headquarters, and speculated that the new headquarters would be built on two plots of land designated as "T17" and "T18," which span 3.89 hectares in the park. "I think it's time for us to reveal one of the largest products we've ever built," Huang said near the
China yesterday announced anti-dumping duties as high as 74.9 percent on imports of polyoxymethylene (POM) copolymers, a type of engineering plastic, from Taiwan, the US, the EU and Japan. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce’s findings conclude a probe launched in May last year, shortly after the US sharply increased tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, computer chips and other imports. POM copolymers can partially replace metals such as copper and zinc, and have various applications, including in auto parts, electronics and medical equipment, the Chinese ministry has said. In January, it said initial investigations had determined that dumping was taking place, and implemented preliminary
Intel Corp yesterday reinforced its determination to strengthen its partnerships with Taiwan’s ecosystem partners including original-electronic-manufacturing (OEM) companies such as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) and chipmaker United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電). “Tonight marks a new beginning. We renew our new partnership with Taiwan ecosystem,” Intel new chief executive officer Tan Lip-bu (陳立武) said at a dinner with representatives from the company’s local partners, celebrating the 40th anniversary of the US chip giant’s presence in Taiwan. Tan took the reins at Intel six weeks ago aiming to reform the chipmaker and revive its past glory. This is the first time Tan
RSS