The Presidential Office said yesterday the government is mapping out an income subsidy program, but added that it was not a tax cut or tax refund.
Presidential Office Spokesman Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦) said the initiative corresponded to the spirit of the “468 project” proposed by President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Vice President Vincent Siew (蕭萬長) during the election campaign.
The “468 project” refers to a subsidy of NT$46,800 for a family of four whose annual income is less than NT$360,000. Ma and Siew proposed to earmark NT$25 billion (US$783 million) each year for the initiative to benefit 3.2 million families.
Wang said the proposal would help the disadvantaged, offer an incentive for people to work and stimulate public consumption. Wang, however, declined to call it a tax cut or tax refund.
“It is not a tax cut. The concept is a subsidy for a working family,” he said. “If a family does not make enough to pay any taxes, there is no such thing as a tax refund.”
Asked if the government would work toward cutting taxes or offering tax rebates, Wang said the Executive Yuan was in a better position to answer the question. Wang, however, said that other countries could afford tax rebate because they had surplus tax revenues, but this was not the case in Taiwan.
Wang made the remarks in response to media inquiries about comments made by Siew on Monday. Siew told reporters during a transit stop in Singapore on his way back from Swaziland that the administration must “offer conditional tax rebates right away” to boost public consumption.
Siew told reporters that the government could grant tax refunds or tax breaks to middle and low-income families as a measure to bridge the gap between the rich and the poor.
Siew said he and Ma proposed the “468 project” on the campaign trail and the proposal was a form of “conditional tax rebate.” It would have the same effect as tax rebate and the executive branch should put it into practice as soon as possible.
Legislators across party lines yesterday expressed support for Siew’s remarks.
Asked for comment, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus secretary-general Chang Sho-wen (張碩文) yesterday urged the Cabinet to draw up plans to execute Siew’s proposal as soon as possible as this would benefit families with lower incomes.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯) told a press conference yesterday that DPP legislators supported Siew’s view, and expressed the hope that Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) would implement the proposal soon.
The DPP caucus on June 23 had issued a tax refund proposal that suggested the NT$58.3 billion government budget reserved to help local governments complete infrastructure projects and boost domestic demand be used to provide tax refunds to low-income households. The Cabinet opposed the proposal and the bill failed to clear the legislative floor before the legislature went into recess in July.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY RICH CHANG
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