Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) yesterday expressed support for further cuts to the business income tax rate, a comment expected to help garner consensus among lawmakers across party lines to enact the draft on the promotion of innovative industries (產業創新條例).
When approached by reporters yesterday for comment on the draft, Wu said that despite a possible reduction in tax revenue, the cut would enhance the attractiveness of the country to foreign capital, speed up investment and create more jobs, thus increasing eventual tax revenues.
Without giving much detail, Wu cited the slash in estate and gift tax rate from 50 percent to 10 percent as an example of tax cuts working to help the government, saying that it brought more benefits than losses in tax revenue.
While the government initially wanted to keep the rate at 20 percent, the tax cut proposal, presented by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers, suggested cutting the business income tax rate to 17.5 percent. The proposal has since become one of the causes of deadlock over the draft in the legislature.
While Minister of Finance Lee Sush-der (李述德) had previously said the DPP caucus’ proposal would result in a loss of NT$40.3 billion (US$1.2 billion) in annual tax revenue, the government has nevertheless indicated a change in its position, with Executive Yuan Secretary-General Lin Join-sane (林中森) proposing the possibility of lowering the rate to 17 percent.
Chinese Nationalist Party Legislative caucus whip Lin Yi-shih (林益世) said yesterday the party caucus would concretize its position after making a comparison of the costs and benefits of setting the tax rate at 20 percent, 18 percent and 17 percent.
Last year, the business income tax rate was lowered from 25 percent to 20 percent, leading to an approximate loss of NT$80.8 billion in tax revenues.
The first global hotel Keys Selection by the Michelin Guide includes four hotels in Taiwan, Michelin announced yesterday. All four received the “Michelin One Key,” indicating guests are to experience a “very special stay” at any of the locations as the establishments are “a true gem with personality. Service always goes the extra mile, and the hotel provides much more than others in its price range.” Of the four hotels, three are located in Taipei and one in Taichung. In Taipei, the One Key accolades were awarded to the Capella Taipei, Kimpton Da An Taipei and Mandarin Oriental Taipei. Capella Taipei was described by
EVA Airways today confirmed the death of a flight attendant on Saturday upon their return to Taiwan and said an internal investigation has been launched, as criticism mounted over a social media post accusing the airline of failing to offer sufficient employee protections. According to the post, the flight attendant complained of feeling sick on board a flight, but was unable to take sick leave or access medical care. The crew member allegedly did not receive assistance from the chief purser, who failed to heed their requests for medical attention or call an ambulance once the flight landed, the post said. As sick
Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) yesterday said that private-sector refiners are willing to stop buying Russian naphtha should the EU ask them to, after a group of non-governmental organizations, including the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), criticized the nation’s continued business with the country. While Taiwan joined the US and its Western allies in putting broad sanctions on Russia after it invaded Ukraine in 2022, it did not explicitly ban imports of naphtha, a major hard-currency earner for Russia. While state-owned firms stopped importing Russian oil in 2023, there is no restriction on private companies to
INDUSTRY: Beijing’s latest export measures go beyond targeting the US and would likely affect any country that uses Chinese rare earths or related tech, an academic said Taiwanese industries could face significant disruption from China’s newly tightened export controls on rare earth elements, as much of Taiwan’s supply indirectly depends on Chinese materials processed in Japan, a local expert said yesterday. Kristy Hsu (徐遵慈), director of the Taiwan ASEAN Studies Center at the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research, said that China’s latest export measures go far beyond targeting the US and would likely affect any country that uses Chinese rare earths or related technologies. With Japan and Southeast Asian countries among those expected to be hit, Taiwan could feel the impact through its reliance on Japanese-made semi-finished products and
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