Tax revenues last month fell for the first time this year as the national treasury collected NT$193.1 billion (US$5.93 billion), a drop of 14.3 percent from the same period a year earlier, as an economic slowdown weighed on corporate and personal incomes, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday.
Corporate tax income slumped 38.4 percent year-on-year to NT$39.5 billion, while personal tax income dropped 5.6 percent to NT$38.9 billion, as companies and individuals reported less earnings amid a global slowdown, the ministry said.
“The slowdown is affecting tax revenues as evidenced by persistent falls in securities, property and car transactions,” a ministry official said.
New car licenses plunged 27.4 percent to 25,226 units last month, reducing commodity tax revenues on locally made cars by 15.8 percent year-on-year, the ministry’s report said.
However, commodity tax revenues on imported cars increased 13.8 percent from a year earlier, the ministry said, as a weak yen and euro continued to spur demand.
Securities transactions tax revenues lost an extra 4.1 percent last month to NT$6.2 billion from a year ago, reflecting a lack of confidence on the part of investors, the report said.
Revenue from property taxes fell 5.8 percent annually to NT$6.8 billion last month, while the number of deals dropped 2.3 percent, the report said.
SELF-SUFFICIENCY: Alibaba is one of a number of Chinese firms that has answered Beijing’s call to invest in the development of cutting-edge technologies Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (阿里巴巴) yesterday unveiled a new server chip that is based on advanced 5-nanometer technology, marking a milestone in China’s pursuit of semiconductor self-sufficiency. The Chinese tech giant’s newest chip is based on micro-architecture provided by the SoftBank Group Corp-owned Arm Ltd, it said. Alibaba, which is holding its annual cloud summit in Hangzhou, China, said that the chip is to be used in its own data centers in the “near future” and would not, for the time being, be sold commercially. “Customizing our own server chips is consistent with our ongoing efforts toward boosting our computing capabilities with better
Production at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp’s (TSMC, 台積電) fabs was not affected by a fire at a construction site for a water recycling facility in the Southern Taiwan Science Park in Tainan. The world’s biggest contract chipmaker said that the construction site is not adjacent to its fabs, which were unaffected. CTCI Corp (中鼎工程) is responsible for the construction of the facility, which it is to operate itself once it is completed, the chipmaker said. The facility caught fire at about 11am, and the blaze was brought under control about 30 minutes after the incident was reported, the Southern Taiwan Science Park Administration
AGGRESSIVE STEP: With the new processors, Apple is aiming at the high-end chips Intel has provided for the MacBook Pro and other top-end Macs for about 15 years Apple Inc on Monday took the most aggressive step yet to strip Intel Corp chips from its computers, announcing more powerful homegrown Mac processors alongside a total revamp of its MacBook Pro laptop computers. The company showcased the chips at an event called “Unleashed,” which also included its latest audio products. The new components, called the M1 Pro and M1 Max chips, are 70 percent faster than its M1 predecessors, Apple said. It also unveiled a redesigned MacBook Pro, adding larger screens, MagSafe charging and better resolution. With the new processors and devices, Apple is aiming squarely at the high-end chips that Intel has
SUBSIDIES NEEDED: Legislation to provide grants and incentives to the semiconductor industry has been stalled by lawmakers, to the frustration of chipmaker Intel Corp’s plans for a multibillion-dollar investment in a new US semiconductor plant hang in part on the US Congress moving on a stalled plan to bolster the domestic chip industry, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger said. “The capital plans that we’ve laid out do not presume anything heroic on the part of the government, but we’d like to go bigger and faster as a result of the investments from the US government,” Gelsinger said on Bloomberg Television. Intel’s earnings report on Thursday underscored the costs of returning the world’s largest chipmaker to global industry leadership. A bipartisan push to make the US more
RSS