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KMT legislators move to reform educational tax

KMT lawmakers yesterday vowed to pass a tax-legislation amendment in the new legislative session in a bid to lighten the financial burden on parents with children at senior high school.

The legislators said the amendment would focus on expanding tax relief to include educational expenses. If the plan is passed, parents with children in senior high school would be entitled tax breaks, an extension of the current rule that offers the parents of college students tax credit.

The opposition party also wants to modify laws stipulating maximum tax credits for tuition fees. Currently, the figure stands at NT$25,000, but, under the proposed regulations, each household would save a maximum of NT$25,000 for child enrolled senior high school or college.

"We have proposed these revisions because the poverty gap in this country is such that children from low-income families are being forced to halt their studies because they cannot afford to pay tuition fees," Legislator Huang Teh-fu (黃德福) said.

Huang said that flawed income-tax laws worsen the plight of low-income families because rich people already enjoy a number of tax breaks. He said children from both ends of the social spectrum should have an equal chance of finishing high school.

Huang was speaking at a press conference held by the KMT yesterday morning. Officials at the conference unveiled a poll that said most people in Taiwan felt that the current tax laws favor wealthy people.

But DPP Legislator Chen Chin-jun (陳景峻) reminded his KMT colleague that amending tax rules requires extensive research.

The DPP administration has undertaken tax reforms to safeguard the fundamental rights of all citizens, he said.

TSU Legislator Chen Chien-ming (陳建銘) said his party would endorse the KMT's proposal as long as it benefited citizens.

Despite the fact that the current education policy was formulated by the former KMT administration, the TSU would like to push for the revision of tax laws proposed by the KMT to ease the economic pressure on low-income families, Chen said.

But he cautioned that the revision must be done correctly, or "it would further benefit the financially advantaged in this country."
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