Same-sex couples will be allowed to complete household registration nationwide outside their area of residence as of July 3, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday, even though several local governments continue to refuse to accept such registrations.
“Registration of same-sex partnerships will be saved in our database and the couple will receive an official document stating the date and their names,” Department of Household Registration Affairs Director Wanda Chang (張琬宜) said. “Because couples have an official certificate, they will be able to sign hospital forms for one another and otherwise serve as each other’s representatives, such as when applying for a passport.”
The ministry is also considering further measures to grant same-sex couples new rights, but will stop short of anything affecting third persons — such as inheritance and adoption — until new legislation governing such relationships is passed, she said.
Photo: Lee Hsin-fang, Taipei Times
The Executive Yuan is deliberating on whether household registrations would be retroactively recognized as a marriage or partnership following passage of new legislation, she said.
The Council of Grand Justices last month ruled that the Civil Code’s failure to make provisions for same-sex partnerships is unconstitutional, which has started Executive Yuan deliberations on legalization of same-sex marriages.
Local government acceptance of same-sex couples household registrations began in Kaohsiung in 2015, with 11 local governments accepting such registrations before the Executive Yuan this month called for nationwide acceptance.
Six local governments have since begun accepting same-sex partnership registration, but Keelung and Yunlin, Hualien, Taitung and Penghu counties do not.
Local governments were able to decide whether to accept such registrations because of an absence of binding legislation, Chang said, adding that affected couples can register in neighboring locales.
As of the beginning of this month, local government’s accepted household registrations from 2,060 same-sex couples, including 1,643 lesbian couples and 417 gay couples.
The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee yesterday approved proposed amendments to the Amusement Tax Act (娛樂稅法) that would abolish taxes on films, cultural activities and competitive sporting events, retaining the fee only for dance halls and golf courses. The proposed changes would set the maximum tax rate for dance halls and golf courses at 50 and 20 percent respectively, with local governments authorized to suspend the levies. Article 2 of the act says that “amusement tax shall be levied on tickets sold or fees charged by amusement places, facilities or activities” in six categories: “Cinema; professional singing, story-telling, dancing, circus, magic show, acrobatics
Tainan, Taipei and New Taipei City recorded the highest fines nationwide for illegal accommodations in the first quarter of this year, with fines issued in the three cities each exceeding NT$7 million (US$220,639), Tourism Administration data showed. Among them, Taipei had the highest number of illegal short-term rental units, with 410. There were 3,280 legally registered hotels nationwide in the first quarter, down by 14 properties, or 0.43 percent, from a year earlier, likely indicating operators exiting the market, the agency said. However, the number of unregistered properties rose to 1,174, including 314 illegal hotels and 860 illegal short-term rental
INFLATION UP? The IMF said CPI would increase to 1.5 percent this year, while the DGBAS projected it would rise to 1.68 percent, with GDP per capita of US$44,181 The IMF projected Taiwan’s real GDP would grow 5.2 percent this year, up from its 2.1 percent outlook in January, despite fears of global economic disruptions sparked by the US-Iran conflict. Taiwan’s consumer price index (CPI) is projected to increase to 1.5 percent, while unemployment would be 3.4 percent, roughly in line with estimates for Asia as a whole, the international body wrote in its Global Economic Outlook Report published in the US on Monday. The figures are comparatively better than the IMF outlook for the rest of the world, which pegged real GDP growth at 3.1 percent, down from 3.3 percent
ECONOMIC COERCION: Such actions are often inconsistently applied, sometimes resumed, and sometimes just halted, the Presidential Office spokeswoman said The government backs healthy and orderly cross-strait exchanges, but such arrangements should not be made with political conditions attached and never be used as leverage for political maneuvering or partisan agendas, Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said yesterday. Kuo made the remarks after China earlier in the day announced 10 new “incentive measures” for Taiwan, following a landmark meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) in Beijing on Friday. The measures, unveiled by China’s Xinhua news agency, include plans to resume individual travel by residents of Shanghai and China’s Fujian
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