Print

Mail

wiki links

Bill passed to cut taxes on commodities

The legislature yesterday passed an amendment to the Valued-added and Non-value-added Business Tax Act (加值型及非加值型營業稅法) that will allow the government to reduce taxes on corn, wheat, barley and soy beans to stabilize commodity prices.

The amendment gives officials the ability to adjust taxes on the four staples without being bound by the statutory business tax rate of 5 percent to 10 percent. The four staples are now taxed at 5 percent.

Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) had previously said the government would not rule out cutting the taxes to zero, but the Executive Yuan said yesterday that it would decide next week by how much to cut the tax and how long the policy should remain in effect.

The Executive Yuan submitted the amendment to the legislature in December as part of a plan to stabilize commodity prices because the nation imports nearly 100 percent of the four items.

The Ministry of Finance said yesterday that cutting taxes on the four staples would cost the government NT$2.9 billion (US$94 million) in lost revenue.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY CNA
This story has been viewed 1402 times.