The Cabinet yesterday passed a draft amendment to raise the tax on cigarettes, as well as the health and welfare surcharge on tobacco, by NT$25 per packet in a bid to help 740,000 people quit smoking, or a decline of 20.8 percent, officials said yesterday.
Under the amendments to the Tobacco Hazards Prevention Act (菸害防制法) and the Tobacco and Liquor Tax Act (菸酒稅法) approved at a Cabinet meeting, the health and welfare surcharge per pack of cigarettes would be raised to NT$40 from NT$20, while the tax on cigarettes would be increased to NT$16.8 from NT$11.8.
Even if the legislature approves the amendment, Taiwan would still not meet the standard set by the World Bank in which the tax, and health and wealth surcharge on cigarettes, should account for between 67 percent and 80 percent of the price, Department of Health Vice Minister Day Guey-ing (戴桂英) said.
Photo: CNA
Day said that an increase of NT$29 in the tax and surcharge is needed to meet the standard because the duties component currently accounts for only 54 percent of the price.
Cigarette prices are relatively low in Taiwan in comparison with the average price of NT$77 a packet in Thailand and NT$99 in Malaysia, but similar to the price of NT$68 in China, Day said.
Vice Minister of Finance William Tseng (曾銘宗) said the adjustments to the duties would result in a loss of NT$610 million (US$20.73 million) in tax revenue, but would bring in an additional NT$25 billion in health and welfare surcharges.
Photo: CNA
The revenues would be used to fund various welfare projects — to subsidize people who cannot afford to pay their health insurance premiums, on cancer screening, to set up care centers in remote areas and to fund vaccines for children, Day said.
Bureau of Health Promotion Director-General Chiou Shu-ti (邱淑媞) said the amendment would result in a long-term benefit of NT$296 billion, the savings in healthcare costs for people who quit smoking as a result of the increased duties and the productivity they contribute to the economy in the extended years they live after quitting smoking.
Eight restaurants in Taiwan yesterday secured a one-star rating from the Michelin Guide Taiwan for the first time, while three one-star restaurants from last year’s edition were promoted to two stars. Forty-three restaurants were awarded one star this year, including 34 in Taipei, five in Taichung and four in Kaohsiung. Hosu (好嶼), Chuan Ya (川雅), Sushi Kajin (鮨嘉仁), aMaze (心宴), La Vie by Thomas Buhner, Yuan Yi (元一) and Frassi in Taipei and Front House (方蒔) in Kaohsiung received a one-star rating for the first time. Hosu is known for innovative Taiwanese dishes, while Chuan Ya serves Sichuan cuisine and aMaze specializes
STATS: Taiwan’s average life expectancy of 80.77 years was lower than that of Japan, Singapore and South Korea, but higher than in China, Malaysia and Indonesia Taiwan’s average life expectancy last year increased to 80.77 years, but was still not back to its pre-COVID-19 pandemic peak of 81.32 years in 2020, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. The average life expectancy last year increased the 0.54 years from 2023, the ministry said in a statement. For men and women, the average life expectancy last year was 77.42 years and 84.30 years respectively, up 0.48 years and 0.56 years from the previous year. Taiwan’s average life expectancy peaked at 81.32 years in 2020, as the nation was relatively unaffected by the pandemic that year. The metric
Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp. (THSRC) plans to ease strained capacity during peak hours by introducing new fare rules restricting passengers traveling without reserved seats in 2026, company Chairman Shih Che (史哲) said Wednesday. THSRC needs to tackle its capacity issue because there have been several occasions where passengers holding tickets with reserved seats did not make it onto their train in stations packed with individuals traveling without a reserved seat, Shih told reporters in a joint interview in Taipei. Non-reserved seats allow travelers maximum flexibility, but it has led to issues relating to quality of service and safety concerns, especially during
A magnitude 5.1 earthquake struck Chiayi County at 4:37pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 36.3km southeast of Chiayi County Hall at a depth of 10.4km, CWA data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Chiayi County, Tainan and Kaohsiung on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Chiayi City and Yunlin County, while it was measured as 2 in Pingtung, Taitung, Hualien, Changhua, Nantou and Penghu counties, the data