The Ministry of Finance (MOF) yesterday published a list of individuals and major corporations that owe the government back taxes.
The Sunworld Dynasty Hotel (王朝大酒店) tops the list of corporations with an outstanding tax bill of NT$2.065 billion (US$65.55 million), while late business tycoon Huang Jen-chung (黃任中) and his son, Juang Juo-ku (黃若谷), owe taxes of NT$1.545 billion and NT$1.719 billion, respectively.
The MOF list contained 1,558 major cases worth a total of NT$130.8 billion.
The names of individuals and corporations owing more than NT$10 million and NT$50 million respectively have been posted on the Web sites of five national tax administrations under the MOF, where they will remain for a period of seven days.
This is the first time the ministry has published a list of major tax defaulters, but whether this encourages the payment of outstanding tax bills remains to be seen.
The Control Yuan, the nation’s highest watchdog, has criticized the government for inadequate attempts to retrieve outstanding taxes, saying that only 4.06 percent of outstanding tax debts were paid between 2001 and October last year.
Legislator Lo Shu-lei (羅淑蕾) of the ruling Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) said that outstanding taxes had increased to NT$313.8 billion as of the end of last year, representing 4.14 percent of actual tax revenues.
In late March the Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee passed a motion demanding the MOF instruct tax administrations to regularly publish lists of individuals and corporations who owe more than NT$10 million and NT$50 million.
The MOF said that the figure of 4.14 percent of unpaid taxes is not particularly large by international standards, adding that the level is around 7 percent in the US, between 7 percent and 8 percent in China, 5 percent in Hong Kong and more than 10 percent in Greece.
Most scholars supported the publication of the list.
Norman Yin (殷乃平) of National Chengchi University said it would have an “intimidating effect” and force tax defaulters to repay the money.
National Taiwan University’s Lee Hsien-fong (李顯峰) said that the government should focus on the major transgressors and only publish the names of individuals who owe more than NT$50 million and corporations that owe more than NT$100 million. Lee said this would be more effective in getting people to pay their outstanding taxes, as a list containing too many names would fail to have the desired impact.
Separately, the Taipei Revenue Service said on Friday that it has identified 9,850 households in the city that will be assessed as liable to pay a “luxury house tax,” a move that could increase their housing tax burden by as much as 320 percent.
Service Director Hsieh Sung-fang (謝松芳) said that the “luxury house tax” would be introduced in July next year, once the publicly assessed housing values of “luxury houses” have been adjusted upwards.
The publicly assessed housing value is an estimate of a house’s worth, not including the land, made by a public agency and is used to calculate housing tax. Taiwan does not assess taxes on land or houses based on actual transaction values.
Taipei City is expected to benefit to the tune of an additional NT$800 million in revenue from the increase when it begins collecting the tax in May 2012.
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
RESTAURANT POISONING? Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang at a press conference last night said this was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan An autopsy discovered bongkrekic acid in a specimen collected from a person who died from food poisoning after dining at the Malaysian restaurant chain Polam Kopitiam, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said at a news conference last night. It was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) said. The testing conducted by forensic specialists at National Taiwan University was facilitated after a hospital voluntarily offered standard samples it had in stock that are required to test for bongkrekic acid, he said. Wang told the news conference that testing would continue despite
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
‘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)