The Cabinet’s opposition to a proposal by the Ministry of Finance (MOF) to change the current flat housing tax rate to a five-graded system based on property value in an effort to rein in soaring housing prices will further exacerbate public anger, an academic said yesterday.
“We have found it is becoming more obvious that the nation’s policymaking is being interfered with by political factors,” Hua Ching-chun (花敬群), an associate professor of finance at Hsuan Chuang University, told the Taipei Times by telephone.
Hua said that with the special municipality elections at the end of this year, the government does not want to displease property developers by raising the housing tax rate over concerns that doing so may impede their fundraising for elections.
Hua’s remark came after Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) said last Wednesday that the ministry’s proposed progressive housing tax scheme was not “appropriate for the time being,” saying that some reform measures were still under discussion as it is difficult to determine which houses should be considered “luxury residences.”
“Apparently social pressure on the government is not enough. The government seems to only care about the interests of big corporations and has turned a deaf ear to the majority of society,” Hua said.
Deputy Minister of Finance Chang Sheng-ford (張盛和) said yesterday that the proposed amendment to the House Tax Act (房屋稅條例) would be shelved for the time being if the Cabinet has reservations about it.
“We learned about the news from media reports as well, and we have yet to be officially informed by the Cabinet of its opposition to the proposal,” Chang said.
If there were further updates on the matter, the ministry would let the public know, Chang said.
The ministry originally proposed changing the current single housing tax rate for residential units of 1.2 percent to a range of between 1.2 percent and 1.8 percent, depending local governments’ valuations.
The ministry said only 3.4 percent of all households in the country would be taxed at a higher rate under the new scheme.
Most real estate brokers said the new tax rates — if they took effect — would have a limited effect on the current property market, particularly in Taipei City.
However, the Cabinet’s about-face on the proposed amendment has reportedly frustrated the finance ministry.
The Chinese-language daily the Commercial Times reported on Saturday that housing taxation reform may be halted this year because of the year-end special municipality elections. The paper cited ministry’s sources for the report.
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the
GLOBAL ECONOMY: Policymakers have a choice of a small 25 basis-point cut or a bold cut of 50 basis points, which would help the labor market, but might reignite inflation The US Federal Reserve is gearing up to announce its first interest rate cut in more than four years on Wednesday, with policymakers expected to debate how big a move to make less than two months before the US presidential election. Senior officials at the US central bank including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell have in recent weeks indicated that a rate cut is coming this month, as inflation eases toward the bank’s long-term target of two percent, and the labor market continues to cool. The Fed, which has a dual mandate from the US Congress to act independently to ensure