Pan-purple alliance calls for taxes on the rich

"The percentage of GNP from tariff revenue has decreased from 18.6 percent in 1992 to 12.3 percent in 2002, compared with the US' 22 percent, the UK's 30 percent percent, and 35 percent to 40 percent in the Scandinavian countries, Taiwan has almost the lowest taxes of any country in the world."

Chien Hsi-chieh, Pan-Purple alliance convener

The Alliance of Fairness and Justice (公平正義聯盟), or the Pan-purple alliance, yesterday voiced strong doubts about the viability of what it characterizes as the government's unreasonable tax cut for the wealthy and big corporations. They called upon the government to stop further improper cuts.

The alliance's convener, Chien Hsi-chieh, pointed out that Taiwan's tax system is advantageous only for the rich, and it is the people who earn salaries who is the main source of the country's tax income, contributing up to 80 percent of the total income tax.

Chien said that both the pan-blue and pan-green camps had been making laws to help the rich pay less tax. He said that the people belonging to the top income tax brackets were given a 15 percent discount. Also, the incremental land-value tax was halved, while the land-transaction tax, the securities-exchange transaction tax and business tax for financial services were all eliminated.

"The percentage of GNP from tariff revenue has decreased from 18.6 percent in 1992 to 12.3 percent in 2002, compared with the US' 22 percent, the UK's 30 percent percent, and 35 percent to 40 percent in the Scandinavian countries, Taiwan has almost the lowest taxes of any country in the world. But the people who earn salaries does not feel that they are paying less tax because almost all the tax cuts are designed for the rich," Chien said.

"The various unreasonable tax cuts are hurting the nation's treasury, and the government is losing at least NT$200 billion annually to the tax cuts. Tax income now can only support 60 percent of the government's annual spending. The government is borrowing money and selling land and stock in state-owned enterprises to make up for the remaining 40 percent. We are basically eating into our inherited properties."

The alliance also refuted the government's claim that higher taxes would scare off potential investors, pointing out that according to the surveys conducted by both public and private groups, it could be seen that when enterprises choose their investment locations, tax is usually not among the top three priorities. On the contrary, stable domestic politics and society, sound policies, and high-quality labor are the decisive factors for a potential investor.

The Pan-purple alliance was founded earlier this month, consisting of some most well-known social-activist groups. They are hoping to highlight social security issues in the presidential election next year with the establishment of this joint alliance.

The alliance's spokesman, Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), also the secretary-general of the Alliance for Handicapped People (殘障聯盟), said that from now on they would hold a press conference every week to elaborate on their ideals in detail, with the aim of communicating their entire platform before the legislature begins its session.

Wang said that the alliance was requiring the legislature to respond to its demand in the next session. If the legislature did not follow suit, the alliance would take further actions, but so far the alliance still declined to explain what those "further actions" might be.