A property tax cut proposed by the Taipei City Government yesterday came under fire from the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei City Council caucus, with city councilors saying that the policy is aimed at benefiting construction companies.
The city government earlier this month proposed a tax cut that would reduce property taxes paid by construction companies from 3.6 percent of the estimated value of a property to 2 percent for each house they are selling.
Under a draft bylaw, the tax rate would apply for one year after a property is put on the market, after which it would be raised back up to 3.6 percent.
Photo: CNA
The 2 percent rate is lower than that for residents holding two properties — 2.4 percent — and much lower than the rate stipulated for people with three or more properties — 3.6 percent.
At a news conference, KMT Taipei City Councilor Chen Chung-wen (陳重文) criticized the policy, saying that it created double standards for construction companies and Taipei residents.
He said that Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) during his election campaign last year repeatedly told Taipei residents that he would endeavor to uphold “residential justice” for young people who cannot afford to purchase a house and the policy belies that pledge.
“The policy panders to building companies, but exploits ordinary residents. Ko should apologize to the young people who voted for him,” Chen said.
KMT Taipei City Councilor Lee Yan-hsiu (李彥秀) said the policy came as a shock to most people given Ko’s campaign promises.
She also said that the tax cut would result in a reduction of about NT$100 million (US$3.04 million) in the city government’s revenue.
“Ko is always trying cut expenses to free up more capital for the city government — for example, canceling the discounts people get when transferring between buses and the MRT, collecting parking fees and canceling subsidies for senior citizens on Double Ninth Day (重陽節) — but by proposing a tax cut for construction companies, I think that he has failed to see the wood for the trees,” Lee said.
The KMT caucus said that it would attempt block the bylaw when it is delivered to the city council for review.
Ko earlier yesterday said the policy was “pragmatic.”
He said that construction companies would be subject to the 2 percent tax rate for one year so that their financial burden could be reduced as they try to sell their stock of houses.
“Under the draft bylaw, the rate would be applied for one year. Some think that is too long. This can be discussed at the council,” Ko said.
He said that the property rates were originally introduced to deter people from stockpiling houses, but that he has discovered that state-run enterprises that want to purchase properties and rent them out to their employees are also required to pay the 3.6 percent tax rate, which he said is unfair.
Right-wing political scientist Laura Fernandez on Sunday won Costa Rica’s presidential election by a landslide, after promising to crack down on rising violence linked to the cocaine trade. Fernandez’s nearest rival, economist Alvaro Ramos, conceded defeat as results showed the ruling party far exceeding the threshold of 40 percent needed to avoid a runoff. With 94 percent of polling stations counted, the political heir of outgoing Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves had captured 48.3 percent of the vote compared with Ramos’ 33.4 percent, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal said. As soon as the first results were announced, members of Fernandez’s Sovereign People’s Party
MORE RESPONSIBILITY: Draftees would be expected to fight alongside professional soldiers, likely requiring the transformation of some training brigades into combat units The armed forces are to start incorporating new conscripts into combined arms brigades this year to enhance combat readiness, the Executive Yuan’s latest policy report said. The new policy would affect Taiwanese men entering the military for their compulsory service, which was extended to one year under reforms by then-president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) in 2022. The conscripts would be trained to operate machine guns, uncrewed aerial vehicles, anti-tank guided missile launchers and Stinger air defense systems, the report said, adding that the basic training would be lengthened to eight weeks. After basic training, conscripts would be sorted into infantry battalions that would take
GROWING AMBITIONS: The scale and tempo of the operations show that the Strait has become the core theater for China to expand its security interests, the report said Chinese military aircraft incursions around Taiwan have surged nearly 15-fold over the past five years, according to a report released yesterday by the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) Department of China Affairs. Sorties in the Taiwan Strait were previously irregular, totaling 380 in 2020, but have since evolved into routine operations, the report showed. “This demonstrates that the Taiwan Strait has become both the starting point and testing ground for Beijing’s expansionist ambitions,” it said. Driven by military expansionism, China is systematically pursuing actions aimed at altering the regional “status quo,” the department said, adding that Taiwan represents the most critical link in China’s
EMERGING FIELDS: The Chinese president said that the two countries would explore cooperation in green technology, the digital economy and artificial intelligence Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday called for an “equal and orderly multipolar world” in the face of “unilateral bullying,” in an apparent jab at the US. Xi was speaking during talks in Beijing with Uruguayan President Yamandu Orsi, the first South American leader to visit China since US special forces captured then-Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro last month — an operation that Beijing condemned as a violation of sovereignty. Orsi follows a slew of leaders to have visited China seeking to boost ties with the world’s second-largest economy to hedge against US President Donald Trump’s increasingly unpredictable administration. “The international situation is fraught
RSS