The Ministry of Finance (MOF) yesterday softened its stance on taxing funds returning to Taiwan as part of an actual investment.
“In a bid to attract foreign funds back to Taiwan, tax incentives and exemptions may be extended for a period of time as long as they are allocated toward tangible investments,” Minister of Finance Chang Sheng-ford (張盛和) told lawmakers, adding that the ministry is still discussing the measure with the Executive Yuan.
Chang also voiced his support for Chinese National Party (KMT) presidential candidate Hung Hsiu-chu’s (洪秀柱) proposed reforms to the capital gains tax, and said that he has not ruled out additional tax cuts provided the nation’s financial situation would not be adversely affected.
Chang is hoping that the estimated NT$15 billion (US$454.52 million) in lost capital gains tax revenues would be offset by expected gain in daily turnover on the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
“I am not opposed to tax cuts, as the measure is among the tools available to the finance ministry to deal with an inclement economic climate,” he said.
He also said that he welcomes foreign companies interested in investing in Taipei 101 to submit proposals to the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ Investment Commission, now that the government holds a majority stake in Taipei Financial Center Corp (TFCC, 台北金融大樓公司), the firm that operates the landmark building.
Chang denied hearing rumors that Ting Hsin International Group (頂新國際集團) intends to sell its stake in the skyscraper to Blackstone Group, a New York-based investment management firm.
“The situation is different now, with the Ministry of Finance holding 52 percent, the government is no longer at risk of losing managerial control of Taipei 101,” Chang said.
Ting Hsin in March said that its plan to sell its 37 percent stake to Malaysian conglomerate IOI Properties Group Bhd had fallen through amid criticism that foreigners might be able to gain managerial control of the iconic structure. Ting Hsin’s reputation was also damaged by a series of food safety scandals last year.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day