President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday announced that his administration would push for legislation and revision of laws on land expropriation, real-estate transaction prices and social housing projects to provide more protection for landowners and a more equitable use of land and housing to curb property hoarding.
Ma told a press conference at the Presidential Office that the Executive Yuan would pass a revision to the Land Expropriation Act (土地徵收條例) proposed by the Ministry of the Interior and send it to the legislature for approval.
Under the proposals, local governments will evaluate land transaction prices of expropriated lands every six months, and compensation for landowners will be calculated according to market value rather than the published value of the land, which is often much lower than the market value.
Major solutions to curb unjust land seizures and housing prices include the establishment of a database of real-estate transaction prices to make the information transparent, taxation of unused land to prevent land speculation and housing legislation, he said.
“Our goal is to demonstrate the government’s determination to defend justice in land use and housing, as well as close the poverty gap. Any reforms will affect the rights of some groups, but in the long run, establishing a fair real-estate transaction system will benefit consumers, land developers and real-estate firms,” he said.
Ma’s comments came in the wake of a series of large-scale protests against government takeovers of land for use as industrial parks and other manufacturing facilities.
The legislation and amendment of legislation, as well as administrative measures were the first step in his administration’s efforts to pursue justice in land use, housing and taxation, he said.
The measures, including the taxation of vacant land and inspection of luxury apartment transactions, were aimed at eliminating speculation by land developers and real-estate companies, he said, promising that the government would not increase tax on self-owned residences.
Ma said the legal revisions would include a ban on expropriating any farmland unless it was for a social welfare project or major national development.
At a separate setting later in the day, Minister of the Interior Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) said the proposed amendment aimed to provide better protection to landowners and to make it more difficult for government institutions to take over private land.
The purpose of adding more steps and requiring more cash compensation was to make local governments think twice before expropriating land, Jiang said.
“Many critics have said the land expropriation measure has been abused. Therefore, we are trying to make local governments spend more money on such transactions so they will think twice before making a decision to expropriate land,” he said. “Other measures, such as public hearings, will also make it more difficult to take over private land, so that forced expropriation would be the last option when trying to acquire land.”
Jiang said a real-estate market price database would be established once the legal revisions are finalized, and local governments will help collect information on real-estate prices.
Additional reporting by Loa Iok-sin
CARROT AND STICK: While unrelenting in its military threats, China attracted nearly 40,000 Taiwanese to over 400 business events last year Nearly 40,000 Taiwanese last year joined industry events in China, such as conferences and trade fairs, supported by the Chinese government, a study showed yesterday, as Beijing ramps up a charm offensive toward Taipei alongside military pressure. China has long taken a carrot-and-stick approach to Taiwan, threatening it with the prospect of military action while reaching out to those it believes are amenable to Beijing’s point of view. Taiwanese security officials are wary of what they see as Beijing’s influence campaigns to sway public opinion after Taipei and Beijing gradually resumed travel links halted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the scale of
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
Pope Francis is be laid to rest on Saturday after lying in state for three days in St Peter’s Basilica, where the faithful are expected to flock to pay their respects to history’s first Latin American pontiff. The cardinals met yesterday in the Vatican’s synod hall to chart the next steps before a conclave begins to choose Francis’ successor, as condolences poured in from around the world. According to current norms, the conclave must begin between May 5 and 10. The cardinals set the funeral for Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square, to be celebrated by the dean of the College
CROSS-STRAIT: The vast majority of Taiwanese support maintaining the ‘status quo,’ while concern is rising about Beijing’s influence operations More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework for cross-strait relations, according to a survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday. The MAC’s latest quarterly survey found that 84.4 percent of respondents opposed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for handling cross-strait relations — a figure consistent with past polling. Over the past three years, opposition to the framework has remained high, ranging from a low of 83.6 percent in April 2023 to a peak of 89.6 percent in April last year. In the most recent poll, 82.5 percent also rejected China’s
RSS