Wu added that the NTA had forwarded the IE's endorsement letter to Yu yesterday.
The government has planned to use the annual additional income of NT$9 billion to increase teachers' salaries in addition to improving school facilities.
The Cabinet on Aug. 21 approved draft amendments to the Income Tax Law (所得稅法), which would make it mandatory for soldiers and teachers to pay income tax for the first time in 47 years. If all goes smoothly, the tax exemptions would be abolished as early as January.
Soldiers and teachers of junior high schools and down have been exempt from paying income tax since 1955.
Yu also rebuffed media reports that the Cabinet will decrease the 18 percent preferential interest rate on savings enjoyed by soldiers, schoolteachers and government employees.
"We've never planned to do so nor have we made such a remark," Yu said.
The TSU recently has proposed to halve the 18 percent interest rate so the money saved could be used to extend the senior stipend program to low-income and handicapped citizens aged 65 and older.
RSS