1.May 2008 to March 2009: Pensions for socially and economically disadvantaged people in terms of funds and a health insurance premium subsidy, as well as free lunches for disadvantaged students. NT$16.71 billion
2.2008 to 2012: Subsidies for the purchase of energy-saving household appliances, such as LED light bulbs, solar heat collectors and solar water heaters, as well as to encourage drivers to replace petroleum-driven vehicles with vehicles powered by liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) or rechargeable electric batteries. NT$11.117 billion
3.Jan. 2008 to Dec. 2008: Provide funding to enterprises that can provide temporary job opportunities, hire the long-term unemployed or provide training for their employees. NT$483 million
4.Jan. 2008 to Sept. 2010: To raise the government’s preferential mortgage interest subsidy rate from 0.125 percent to 0.7 percent and to expand the quota allocation of loans to help young people buy their own homes and to provide the young and disadvantaged with a rent allowance. NT$4.45 billion
5.Aug. 2008 to Dec. 2008: To facilitate the construction of state infrastructure projects and to press local governments to speed up construction projects covered by a NT$58.3 billion budget designed to expand domestic demand. NT$58.3 billion
6.Jan. 2008 to Dec. 2010: Manufacturing, traditional industries and related technical industries to be granted a five-year tax exemption from enterprise income tax on domestic investments between last month and the end of next year. NT$37.62 billion
7.Six months from approval: To request the legislature review the Securities Transaction Tax Act (證券交易稅條例) and cut the 0.3 percent tax rate by half for six months to boost the stock market. Expecting to start in Oct: To open the capital markets to Chinese qualified domestic institutional investors (QDII) that would see an inflow of a maximum of US$1.125 billion in Chinese capital, planned to begin next month. NT$30 billion
8.2008 to Dec. 2011: To raise the percentage of the guaranty the government offers to small and medium-sized enterprises to facilitate bank loans and to implement a microfinance loan program to assist the middle-aged and women to start small businesses. NT$20.67 billion
9.Aug. 2008 to Dec. 2012: To help enterprises to explore newly developing markets in the Middle East, Brazil, Russia and China. NT$1.5 billion
10.To advance tax reform, including raising standard deductions and special deductions on income, disability and school tuition fees, as well as discussing reductions in enterprise income tax, inheritance tax and gift tax.
Total amount: NT$180.9 billion
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)