The legislature yesterday passed an amendment to the Motion Picture Law (電影法) to extend tax breaks for businesses investing in film productions for another five years to 2014.
Businesses offering funds to film producers are entitled to receive 20 percent tax deductions for five years on their enterprise income tax based on the prices of the shares they possess for more than three years, but the tax break clause was scheduled to expire next month.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Sun Ta-chien (孫大千), the sponsor of the bill, said the extension would give a boost to the film industry as its biggest problem has been a lack of funds.
The amended law also stipulated that the Government Information Office — the film industry’s regulatory agency — should coordinate with other departments of the central and local governments to help producers with problems they might encounter while shooting.
An amendment to the Communicable Disease Prevention and Control Law (傳染病防治法) also passed the legislature to create a national fund to pay for development and procurement of vaccines.
Centers for Disease Control Director Steve Kuo (郭旭崧) had said the government planned to set up a NT$2 billion (US$61.5 million) fund to ensure a stable source of funding, four times higher than the amount covered by the annual government budget, which he said was insufficient.
Meanwhile, the legislature also passed an amendment to the Medical Treatment Law (醫療法) that would allow nonprofit foundations to introduce heavy-ion therapy to Taiwan.
In October, Evergreen Group chairman Chang Yung-fa (張榮發) denounced the government for rejecting his foundation’s proposal to build a cancer center equipped with a heavy-ion treatment facility, and said he had abandoned the project.
His complaint drew the attention of Minister of Health Yeh Ching-chuan (葉金川) and lawmakers who then initiated a move to amend the regulation.
The law would allow nonprofits with plans to establish clinical treatment centers with a certain amount of paid-in capital to purchase dangerous medical devices from abroad as long as they obtain import permits from the department.
Taiwan would benefit from more integrated military strategies and deployments if the US and its allies treat the East China Sea, the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea as a “single theater of operations,” a Taiwanese military expert said yesterday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a researcher at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said he made the assessment after two Japanese military experts warned of emerging threats from China based on a drill conducted this month by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Eastern Theater Command. Japan Institute for National Fundamentals researcher Maki Nakagawa said the drill differed from the
‘WORSE THAN COMMUNISTS’: President William Lai has cracked down on his political enemies and has attempted to exterminate all opposition forces, the chairman said The legislature would motion for a presidential recall after May 20, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday at a protest themed “against green communists and dictatorship” in Taipei. Taiwan is supposed to be a peaceful homeland where people are united, but President William Lai (賴清德) has been polarizing and tearing apart society since his inauguration, Chu said. Lai must show his commitment to his job, otherwise a referendum could be initiated to recall him, he said. Democracy means the rule of the people, not the rule of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but Lai has failed to fulfill his
A rally held by opposition parties yesterday demonstrates that Taiwan is a democratic country, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that if opposition parties really want to fight dictatorship, they should fight it on Tiananmen Square in Beijing. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) held a protest with the theme “against green communists and dictatorship,” and was joined by the Taiwan People’s Party. Lai said the opposition parties are against what they called the “green communists,” but do not fight against the “Chinese communists,” adding that if they really want to fight dictatorship, they should go to the right place and face
A 79-year-old woman died today after being struck by a train at a level crossing in Taoyuan, police said. The woman, identified by her surname Wang (王), crossed the tracks even though the barriers were down in Jhongli District’s (中壢) Neili (內壢) area, the Taoyuan Branch of the Railway Police Bureau said. Surveillance footage showed that the railway barriers were lowered when Wang entered the crossing, but why she ventured onto the track remains under investigation, the police said. Police said they received a report of an incident at 6:41am involving local train No. 2133 that was heading from Keelung to Chiayi City. Investigators
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