The Cabinet-level Council for Economic Planning and Development has proposed exempting foreign visitors from the five percent sales tax in a bid to boost the tourism industry, officials said Thursday.
The measure was aimed at stimulating tourism to meet the government target of doubling the number of tourists to two million a year by 2007, officials said.
Taiwan also aims to increase visitor arrivals, which includes business travellers and other non-tourists, to five million in 2007 from some 2.6 million expected this year, they said.
"The tax waiver would stimulate consumption and benefit the nation's overall economy," a council official said.
The Tourism Bureau will study options for waiving the sales tax before making recommendations to the Cabinet and the Legislative Yuan.
In the six months to June, visitor arrivals stood at 1.29 million, down 7.1 percent from the same period last year.
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