Minister of Finance Chang Sheng-ford (張盛和) yesterday said that the relatively lower turnover in the local stock market in the past year was not purely due to the government’s decision to impose a capital gains tax on securities investments.
Chang made the remarks after the Control Yuan on Tuesday issued a correction to the Executive Yuan and the ministry for introducing the tax, which has dragged down trading in the stock market and led to a huge decline in securities transaction tax revenue.
Chang said that the low turnover last year caused securities transaction tax revenue to fall NT$55 billion (US$1.84 billion) short of the government’s target.
However, he stressed that the levy was not the only factor dragging down the stock market, adding that global economic uncertainties and other domestic policies like increases in electricity and fuel prices had also negative contributed to the sluggishness.
“We respect the Control Yuan’s opinions,” Chang said in a legislative question-and-answer session.
He said the ministry would give the Control Yuan a report in two months responding to the correction, adding that it had no plans to review the policy, which has only been in effect since January.
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