The Executive Yuan yesterday proposed changes to the Income Tax Act (所得稅法), which seek to introduce a tax deduction of NT$120,000 (US$3,891) per person eligible for long-term care services, and are estimated to benefit 290,000 taxpayers.
The tax cut would ease the financial burden of households with members who have mental or physical disabilities, and is in line with the government’s Long-Term Care 2.0 initiative, Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) said at the weekly Cabinet meeting in Taipei.
The proposed deductions would apply to taxpayers, as well as their spouse or any family members they provide for, who have been certified by the Ministry of Health and Welfare as disabled people, and include those who are looked after by caregivers, living at long-term care facilities or who subscribe to home care services.
Photo: Liu Ping-chuan, Taipei Times
As with tax deductions for families with children under the age of six, which came into effect earlier this year, the proposed tax break comes with a provision that would exclude people who earn a high income, including those who earn a net consolidated income of NT$1.21 million per year or more, those who opt for the 28 percent dividend income tax rate for filing dividend and personal income taxes separately, or whose basic income is NT$6.7 million or more.
If passed by the Legislative Yuan, people would benefit from the tax deduction when they file their income tax return next year, the Ministry of Finance said.
In other news, the Executive Yuan yesterday approved a draft amendment to the Act Governing the Total Number of Civil Servants Employed by Central Government Agencies (中央政府機關總員額法), bringing the number of central government employees down from 173,000 to 160,900.
However, under the proposed amendment, staff numbers at public hospitals would not be reduced and the number of judicial employees would be increased by 1,100 to 15,000.
The act governing the number of civil servants was enacted in 2010 and needs to be adapted to today’s situations, Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics Vice Minister Su Chun-jung (蘇俊榮) said.
The proposed change excludes medical personnel, who are in high demand, he said.
Hopefully, the adjustments would boost the efficiency of the government and provide the staffing necessary for pushing judicial reform, he said.
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