With government expenditures rising and tax revenues sliding, Premier Yu Shyi-kun said yesterday the Cabinet is moving to abolish income-tax exemptions for public school teachers and military personnel.
Lawmakers from across party lines expressed approval for the planned tax reform but recommended an incremental approach to carry it out.
"All citizens are equal before law," the premier said in response to a question from DPP lawmaker Chen Mao-nan (
Yu hesitated to set a timetable but added he hoped the suggested reform can be reflected in the government's fiscal plan for next year.
To achieve that, the legislature must amend related tax codes before the end of this year. The premier said that the ministries of education and defense are studying the issue.
"I hope related agencies can soon arrive at a conclusion and put it in the budget plan for next year," Yu said.
The proposed tax reform has been talked about for more than a decade but has run aground due to strong protest from the demographic group and its lobbyists. The tax exemptions have been counted as part of their wages when they take their jobs.
With the economy in the doldrums, leaders from the four legislative caucuses all gave their conditional support for the tax-reform plan.
KMT legislative whip Lin Yi-shih (
"It is better for the government to examine whether the need for such exemptions still exists before taking any action," Lin said.
"Otherwise, the country may suffer if the tax reform deals a heavy blow to the morale of public school teachers and soldiers," Lin added.
To avoid that, he proposed removing the tax exemptions in phases to cushion its impact on the groups.
PFP legislative leader Chin Huei-chu (秦慧珠) agreed in part. She said it is fair to ask all citizens to pay income taxes but noted that military personnel usually work long hours and cannot take holidays off.
"The government is advised to review their salaries and fringe benefits before making them pay income taxes," Chin said.
Echoing a similar theme, TSU lawmaker Chen Cheng-lung (
DPP lawmaker Wang Tuoh (
"Nowadays soldiers and public school teachers make more money than private-sector workers do. The former enjoy summer and winter vacations that are not available to private-sector employees," Wang said.
The premier said he would not rule out a pay hike for public school teachers and soldiers, if it is deemed necessary.
Chen, the DPP lawmaker, went a step further and urged Yu to slash savings interest rates for retired public servants.
Chen noted that the group enjoys a preferential rate of 18 percent, whereas the average rate for the general public hovers around 2 percent.
The premier said that government employees who retire after July 1995 no longer enjoy these high interest rates.
But he refused to adjust already agreed-on interest rates, saying that public servants lived on low incomes before 1995 .
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was sentenced to six months in prison, commutable to a fine, by the New Taipei District Court today for contravening the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法) in a case linked to an alleged draft-dodging scheme. Wang allegedly paid NT$3.6 million (US$114,380) to an illegal group to help him evade mandatory military service through falsified medical documents, prosecutors said. He transferred the funds to Chen Chih-ming (陳志明), the alleged mastermind of a draft-evasion ring, although he lost contact with him as he was already in detention on fraud charges, they said. Chen is accused of helping a
SECURITY: Starlink owner Elon Musk has taken pro-Beijing positions, and allowing pro-China companies to control Taiwan’s critical infrastructure is risky, a legislator said Starlink was reluctant to offer services in Taiwan because of the nation’s extremely high penetration rates in 4G and 5G services, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday. The ministry made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which reviewed amendments to Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法). Article 36 bans foreigners from holding more than 49 percent of shares in public telecommunications networks, while shares foreigners directly and indirectly hold are also capped at 60 percent of the total, unless specified otherwise by law. The amendments, sponsored by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko
NON-RED SUPPLY: Boosting the nation’s drone industry is becoming increasingly urgent as China’s UAV dominance could become an issue in a crisis, an analyst said Taiwan’s drone exports to Europe grew 41.7-fold from 2024 to last year, with demand from Ukraine’s fight against Russian aggression the most likely driver of growth, a study showed. The Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology (DSET) in a statement on Wednesday said it found that many of Taiwan’s uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) sales were from Poland and the Czech Republic. These countries likely transferred the drones to Ukraine to aid it in its fight against the Russian invasion that started in 2022, it said. Despite the gains, Taiwan is not the dominant drone exporter to these markets, ranking second and fourth
The eastern extension of the Taipei MRT Red Line could begin operations as early as late June, the Taipei Department of Rapid Transit Systems said yesterday. Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said it is considering offering one month of free rides on the new section to mark its opening. Construction progress on the 1.4km extension, which is to run from the current terminal Xiangshan Station to a new eastern terminal, Guangci/Fengtian Temple Station, was 90.6 percent complete by the end of last month, the department said in a report to the Taipei City Council's Transportation Committee. While construction began in October 2016 with an
RSS