The latest version of the capital gains tax proposal by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislative caucus could contribute NT$6 billion (US$200.6 million) to NT$7 billion per year to the national coffers, Minister of Finance Chang Sheng-ford (張盛和) said yesterday.
Chang said the ministry was ready to adopt the latest tax bill on securities investments proposed by the KMT caucus, as it believes this version has gained a high consensus among the public.
“The spirit of the Cabinet’s proposed tax draft has been incorporated into the KMT caucus’ version,” Chang said on the sidelines of a legislative question-and-answer session.
Compared with other versions, Chang said the KMT tax bill would have the least impact on the stock market, with the tax being levied based on the stock market’s index level from next year to 2014.
Moreover, capital gains from individual investments in initial public offerings will not be levied retroactively, with the ministry set to pick Dec. 31 of this year as the basis for identifying the stock’s cost, which would be more favorable to IPO investors, Chang said.
As for Hon Hai Group (鴻海集團) chairman Terry Gou’s (郭台銘) appeal to directly tax the nation’s wealthy people and halt the deliberations on a capital gains tax, Chang said he appreciated Gou’s suggestions and admired his move.
“However, the two taxes are different in nature and are not interchangeable,” Chang said at a meeting of the legislature’s Finance Committee. “The ministry has no plans to impose a tax on the rich for now or in the near future.”
Asked about the nation’s rising debt problem, Chang told legislators he does not expect a further increase in the central government’s debt ceiling from the current 40 percent, as he believes the fiscal deficit will gradually improve.
National debt per capita declined to NT$223,000 per person as of the end of last month, dropping by NT$2,000 from the previous month and ending six straight months of increases, ministry statistics released yesterday showed.
The national debt, which includes the central government’s long-term and short-term debts, reached NT$5.174 trillion as of the end of last month, data showed.
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