A surprise suggestion yesterday from President Chen Shui-bian (
During a videoconference with Premier Yu Shyi-kun, Vice Premier Lin Hsin-i (林信義), the head of the Cabinet's anti-SARS task force Lee Ming-liang (李明亮) and Department of Health Director General Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) yesterday morning, Chen blurted out the idea of extending the filing deadline by one month.
"As the epidemic has seriously affected daily life, many people have asked if the government could extend the filing deadline by one month," Chen said
He said such an extension should apply to those "experiencing difficulties due to SARS."
That could have conceivably opened the proposal up to include most businesses and their employees, including airlines, high-tech firms, retailers and travel agencies.
"The government has to do something to prevent complaints," Chen said, noting that more than 80 percent of taxpayers have not yet filed their returns.
He then instructed Yu to have the Ministry of Finance work out a plan.
Lin came up with a proposal to help those on the front lines of the SARS battle.
"We've decided to endorse the president's proposal by offering medical staffers a one-month delay in filing their taxes," Lin said at a press conference late yesterday.
But offering a nationwide extension was out of the question, Lin said. He said the treasury would encounter liquidity problems if the one-month extension applied to all 4.8 million taxpayers or businesses.
"The government's financial condition may worsen if revenues from personal and business income taxes, which total NT$160 billion, are not paid on time," he said.
According to Lin, the Department of Health will provide a list of medical staff from the central and local governments involved in the anti-SARS effort. Only these people will be able to put off filing their taxes until the end of June.
"Only those who are engaged in taking care of SARS patients or helping with the government's anti-SARS measures will be on the list," Lin said.
A public finance professor at National Chengchi University said the half-baked idea was indicative of Chen Shui-bian's policy-making process.
Chen's leadership style of tossing out random ideas without first consulting his economic team has obstructed the formulation of unified and effective financial and economic policies, Tseng Chu-wei (
"What we often see from the president's policy-making process is uncertainty and inconsistency, which ends up reducing the public's confidence," Tseng said.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique