The Ministry of Finance has estimated that a reduced tax rate for rice wine, expected to take effect as early as September, could cost the nation NT$1.47 billion (US$45.7 million) a year.
On Thursday, the Cabinet approved a draft amendment to the Tobacco and Liquor Tax Act (菸酒稅法) stipulating that red-label rice wine would be treated as cooking wine rather than distilled liquor.
If the bill passes its third legislative reading scheduled for Aug. 16, the tax rate for rice wine will be reduced to NT$5.4 per bottle, down from NT$29.25 per bottle, leading to a yearly tax loss of about NT$2.08 billion, the ministry said.
However, the new tax rate will cause prices to drop to NT$25 per 600ml bottle from NT$58 and boost sales to an estimated 210 million bottles per year, increasing tax revenue to NT$610 million per year.
“The government could see [an overall] tax loss of about NT$1.47 billion per year [after the new tax rate on rice wine takes effect],” said Lee Ching-hua (李慶華), deputy director-general of the ministry’s taxation agency.
After Taiwan joined the WTO in 2002, rice wine was subject to a distilled liquor tax of NT$185 per liter, causing the price of a standard bottle to rise from NT$22 to NT$180. Annual sales dropped, leading to rampant production of illegal, cheap rice wine, Lee said.
The legislature revised regulations last year to tax distilled liquor at NT$2.5 per liter for each percentage of alcohol by volume, boosting sales, but not stemming illegal production Lee said.
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