Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) yesterday told a trade group that the Cabinet had no plan to hike taxes before a concrete economic recovery, one day after a ministry official suggested imposing heavier taxes to curb rising property prices.
Wu spoke at a luncheon with the ROC Council for Industrial and Commercial Development (工商建研會) during which business leaders asked the government to allow the market to set property prices.
“I said it before and will say it again: The Cabinet has no plan to raise taxes unless the economy and the well-being of the general public show noted improvement,” Wu said.
He also said the Cabinet was not studying measures to limit increases in property prices, after last week saying that rising property prices were making owning houses in Taipei City and Taipei County increasingly unaffordable.
“Tax hikes are not favorable in times of economic downturn,” the premier said. “The rising number of for-rent and for-sale notices and slowing taxi and truck traffic show a weak economy.”
Council for Economic Planning and Development Chairman Tsai Hsun-hsiung (蔡勳雄) told a legislative hearing on Monday that he supported raising taxes on non-self use property transactions to discourage speculation.
Last week, central bank governor Perng Fai-nan (彭淮南) instructed state-run banks to tighten mortgage risk management to avoid a real estate bubble.
Construction shares shed 1.94 percent at the close of trading yesterday, compared with the 0.17 percent drop on the TAIEX, stock exchange data showed. Lai Cheng-yi (賴正鎰), head of the trade group and owner of Shining Building Business Co (鄉林建設), urged the government to respect the market for property pricing.
“It is not fair to brand property developers as speculators,” Lai said. “Property prices in Taiwan are relatively low, compared with their counterparts in Hong Kong and other neighboring markets.”
Lai, who organized the luncheon, said there was ample growth potential for domestic luxury housing prices.
Shining recently launched an office-building project near the former residence complex of dictator Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) priced at NT$3 million (US$9,230) per ping (3.3m²).
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