The government intens to lower the tax on foreign investors’ interest income from bonds to 15 percent from 20 percent, Taiwanese Deputy Minister of Finance Chang Sheng-ford (張盛和) told reporters in Taichung yesterday.
The cut will take effect from January, said Chang, confirming a report on the tariff adjustment by the Chinese-language Economic Daily News yesterday.
The newspaper, citing Deputy Minister of Finance William Tseng (曾銘宗), said the new tax rate was aimed at attracting more foreign investors to Taiwan’s bond market.
Currently, foreign investors account for less than 2 percent of the total transaction in domestic bond market, it said.
The report said the tax would be collected immediately upon purchase of the bond, the report said.
Meanwhile, the Chinese-language Commercial Times reported yesterday that the government would start imposing energy and carbon taxes only after 2011 if the plan is approved by lawmakers, citing Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義).
At a press conference on Friday, Minister of Finance Lee Sush-der (李述德) said the government was unlikely to raise tax rates next year, unless it saw solid signs of an economic recovery, low inflation and rising wages.
The two officials’ remarks on no new taxes or no hike in tax rates followed a consensus reached by the Tax Reform Committee on Oct. 19 to introduce an incremental levy on gasoline, diesel, gas and other energy sources, as well as on greenhouse gas emissions, starting in 2011.
In related news, an official at the finance ministry’s Department of Treasury yesterday said the government would finalize next month the amount of government bonds it plans to issue next year, with a budget likely to be lower than this year’s.
The official, who requested anonymity, said the government was likely to issue about NT$450 billion (US$13.91 billion) in government bonds next year to fund the state treasury, slightly lower than this year’s NT$470 billion.
But during his press conference on Friday, Lee said the government planned to raise NT$520 billion through debt next year. The plan to finance regular and special budgets needs legislature approval next month, he said.
The ministry on Friday sold NT$20 billion in 273-day treasury bills at a yield of 0.259 percent — higher than the yield of 0.243 percent from the last sale of 273-day treasury bills on Oct. 19.
In the first nine months of this year, Taiwan issued NT$330 billion in bonds and NT$260 billion in treasury bills. The ministry said in September it planned to issue NT$265 billion in government bonds and bills in the fourth quarter.
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