Only 1 percent of the population will have to pay more in tax in the future, Minister of Finance Lin Chuan (
"Our goal is to ask high-income individuals to contribute more to society to balance the current unfair system. But our bottom line is to not affect local industries," Lin said.
Lin held an extraordinary press conference at the Government Information Office yesterday afternoon after briefing the Cabinet's special task force on tax reform, which was announced by President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) earlier this month.
Lin said that he was only briefing the task force and providing crucial proposals for it to think about before the ministry officially proposes its tax-reform plan on July 10.
According to the ministry's schedule, the tax-reform plan will be submitted to the task force on July 10. The task force will then spend another month working on the details of the proposal before submitting it to the legislature on Aug. 10.
"It is our hope that the tax-reform plan can be authorized and approved before the end of December," Lin said.
Lin said more than once that he was merely "suggesting" ideas and a direction in relation to tax reform.
"Nothing is confirmed at this moment," he said.
Lin said that in amending the law for the tax-reform project, teachers and military personnel will no longer enjoy tax-free status; individual charity donations which are less than 20 percent of the taxpayer's annual income can be deducted when reporting taxes; income over NT$1 million earned in a foreign country must be taxed; and an inheritance tax will be levied when the total value of the inheritance exceeds more than NT$30 million.
For minimum tax, Lin suggested tax rates of 17.5 percent to 20 percent for individuals, and 7.5 percent to 12.5 percent for companies.
"These are only my proposals, rather than a final deal," Lin added.
During the press conference, Premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) called Lin on his cellphone, interrupting it for approximately 10 minutes. After the call, Lin stopped giving details and began to say that details should not be made public until the premier authorizes them.
"To sum up, the whole idea of the entire tax-reform project is -- you will have to pay taxes as long as you earn," Lin explained. "However, I can assure you at the same time that 99 percent of us will not be affected by the new tax system."
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