Council for Economic Planning and Development (CEPD) Chairman Tsai Hsun-hsiung (蔡勳雄) yesterday said he supported raising taxes on property transactions to help rein in surging real estate prices.
Tsai made the remark in a legislative hearing after lawmakers expressed concern that owning a house had become increasingly untenable given rising housing prices and falling wages.
Tsai said he believed all incomes should be taxed and suggested the Cabinet’s Tax Reform Committee place the issue on its agenda.
“I’ve always favored subjecting all incomes to taxes,” Tsai told the legislature’s Economics Committee. “Currently, the government only imposes a levy on land incremental value and has spared capital gains from property transactions from taxes.”
The CEPD, responsible for mapping out the nation’s economic policies and monitoring their implementation, called two meetings last week on property price hikes and falling wages. Regular take-home wages averaged NT$35,879 (US$1,103) a month in August, dropping 1.88 percent from the same period last year, government data showed.
Tsai’s statements came after central bank Governor Perng Fai-nan (彭淮南) last week asked state-run banks to tighten mortgage risk management.
The CEPD chief said income from salary accounts for only about 45 percent of GDP, meaning that many derive income from other sources such as capital gains. Tsai pointed to the large difference between government-assessed value and the market prices of a property.
He suggested raising taxes on property investments to discourage speculation and make home ownership more affordable.
However, the Tax Reform Committee, due to disband by the end of the year, is unlikely to take up the proposed property tax hikes, a finance ministry official said, requesting anonymity.
The official said property transactions gains are already subject to taxes, but dishonest filings make it difficult to collect the levy.
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) is expected to share his views about the artificial intelligence (AI) industry’s prospects during his speech at the company’s 37th anniversary ceremony, as AI servers have become a new growth engine for the equipment manufacturing service provider. Lam’s speech is much anticipated, as Quanta has risen as one of the world’s major AI server suppliers. The company reported a 30 percent year-on-year growth in consolidated revenue to NT$1.41 trillion (US$43.35 billion) last year, thanks to fast-growing demand for servers, especially those with AI capabilities. The company told investors in November last year that
Intel Corp has named Tasha Chuang (莊蓓瑜) to lead Intel Taiwan in a bid to reinforce relations between the company and its Taiwanese partners. The appointment of Chuang as general manager for Intel Taiwan takes effect on Thursday, the firm said in a statement yesterday. Chuang is to lead her team in Taiwan to pursue product development and sales growth in an effort to reinforce the company’s ties with its partners and clients, Intel said. Chuang was previously in charge of managing Intel’s ties with leading Taiwanese PC brand Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), which included helping Asustek strengthen its global businesses, the company
Taiwanese suppliers to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC, 台積電) are expected to follow the contract chipmaker’s step to invest in the US, but their relocation may be seven to eight years away, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. When asked by opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Niu Hsu-ting (牛煦庭) in the legislature about growing concerns that TSMC’s huge investments in the US will prompt its suppliers to follow suit, Kuo said based on the chipmaker’s current limited production volume, it is unlikely to lead its supply chain to go there for now. “Unless TSMC completes its planned six
TikTok abounds with viral videos accusing prestigious brands of secretly manufacturing luxury goods in China so they can be sold at cut prices. However, while these “revelations” are spurious, behind them lurks a well-oiled machine for selling counterfeit goods that is making the most of the confusion surrounding trade tariffs. Chinese content creators who portray themselves as workers or subcontractors in the luxury goods business claim that Beijing has lifted confidentiality clauses on local subcontractors as a way to respond to the huge hike in customs duties imposed on China by US President Donald Trump. They say this Chinese decision, of which Agence
RSS