Premier Sean Chen (陳冲) said yesterday that more discussion is needed before the Cabinet can decide whether to lower the current stock transaction tax of 0.3 percent as suggested by the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC).
Asked if the FSC was insisting on a lower stock transaction tax, Chen said Taiwan was a democratic country and the Cabinet would evaluate different opinions before making a final decision.
FSC Chairman Chen Yuh-chang (陳裕璋) had said the transaction tax should be lowered if a capital gains tax is introduced as proposed by the Ministry of Finance.
Currently, the transaction tax on stock turnover is 0.3 percent, reduced from 0.6 percent in the 1990s.
However, Chen said yesterday that “we cannot deny that the current 0.3 percent tax rate involves the concept of a capital gains tax.”
Minister of Finance Christina Liu (劉憶如) has voiced opposition to lowering the transaction tax, saying it is a different matter from the proposed capital gains tax.
Liu said on Monday that Taiwanese companies would not lose global competitiveness if a 1 percent capital gains tax was levied on investors.
She said this in response to FSC Vice Chairman Wu Tang-chieh’s (吳當傑) comment on Monday that a capital gains tax would increase investment costs and negatively affect market mobility, as well as the nation’s global competitiveness.
Responding to public concerns that the capital gains tax proposal was driving down the local bourse, Chen said the market was being affected by many uncertainties, including the global economic situation.
The average daily turnover on the local bourse fell 22.6 percent to NT$77.9 billion in the April 12 to April 18 period, compared with an average NT$100.7 billion in the last month before the capital gains tax was proposed.
According to the Taiwan Securities Association (證券公會), the imposition of a capital gains tax will also lead to an exodus of day traders and short-term speculators, who contribute 15 to 20 percent of the daily turnover of Taiwan’s stock market.
The association warned on Monday that its members might have to cut their staff because of shrinking business and asked the government to reconsider the capital gains tax proposal.
Meanwhile, the premier said he would encourage local businesses to raise salaries.
However, he said the restructuring of local industries would also be fundamental to long-term economic growth.
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
BIG BUCKS: Chairman Wei is expected to receive NT$34.12 million on a proposed NT$5 cash dividend plan, while the National Development Fund would get NT$8.27 billion Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday announced that its board of directors approved US$15.25 billion in capital appropriations for long-term expansion to meet growing demand. The funds are to be used for installing advanced technology and packaging capacity, expanding mature and specialty technology, and constructing fabs with facility systems, TSMC said in a statement. The board also approved a proposal to distribute a NT$5 cash dividend per share, based on first-quarter earnings per share of NT$13.94, it said. That surpasses the NT$4.50 dividend for the fourth quarter of last year. TSMC has said that while it is eager
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
CUSTOMERS’ BURDEN: TSMC already has operations in the US and is a foundry, so any tariff increase would mostly affect US customers, not the company, the minister said Taiwanese manufacturers are “not afraid” of US tariffs, but are concerned about being affected more heavily than regional economic competitors Japan and South Korea, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said. “Taiwan has many advantages that other countries do not have, the most notable of which is its semiconductor ecosystem,” Kuo said. The US “must rely on Taiwan” to boost its microchip manufacturing capacities, Kuo said in an interview ahead of his one-year anniversary in office tomorrow. Taiwan has submitted a position paper under Section 232 of the US Trade Expansion Act to explain the “complementary relationship” between Taiwan and the US
RSS