Last month’s tax revenues rose 16.1 percent from a year earlier to NT$94.2 billion (US$3.08 billion), with business income taxes posting the largest growth chiefly because of a base effect, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday.
Revenue from business income taxes totaled NT$48.1 billion, up 24.6 percent year-on-year as more business income tax payments entered accounts last month than in August, which was the opposite case last year.
“Last month’s pickup in business income taxes was mainly the result of a lower comparison base last year,” Lin Lee-jen (林麗貞), head of the ministry’s statistics department, told a media briefing.
In the first 10 months, the government collected a total of NT$1.34 trillion in tax revenues, which accounted for 98.6 percent of the government’s budget goal and represented an increase of 4.8 percent from a year earlier.
“Revenues from inheritance, business and property taxes all hit a record high in the first 10 months,” Lin said, adding that custom tariff gains hit their highest amount since 2002, rising 31.6 percent year-on-year to NT$72 billion.
Business taxes amounted to NT$214.7 billion in the first 10 months, up 23.3 percent from a year ago, while inheritance taxes were NT$26.4 billion, up 86.3 percent over the same period, statistics showed.
Separately, the ministry’s custom tariff committee yesterday -resolved that the custom tariff rates for corn powder, soybean flour, cane sugar and refined sugar would be reduced by between 25 percent and 50 percent for half a year amid soaring global raw material prices.
It is estimated that the rate reduction will result in a loss of NT$93.66 million in tax revenues, the ministry said, adding that the measure was aimed at stabilizing commodity prices.
The ministry said the proposal has been referred to the Cabinet for approval.
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