The Ministry of Economic Affairs yesterday said it would support a move to lower tariffs on infant formula if it would not have a major impact on customs revenues.
Minister of Economic Affairs Shih Yen-shiang (施顏祥) said a majority of the infant formula sold in the country is imported in bulk and then repackaged, so tariff cuts would not affect domestic businesses.
Industrial Development Bureau Director-General Woody Duh (杜紫軍) agreed, saying that lowering duties would mainly affect customs revenues.
Shih and Duh were responding to questions raised by Chinese Nationality Party (KMT) Legislator Lee Ching-hua (李慶華), who said that the price of infant formula — at nearly NT$1,000 per can — was a heavy burden for young couples.
He said the nation’s birth rate was one of the lowest in the world and the high cost of infant formula was one of the factors discouraging couples from having children.
KMT Legislator Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) said lawmakers were thinking of revising the law to eliminate the import duty for baby formula, but in the meantime she would support cutting the duty in half.
Sources said that with the support of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the Ministry of Finance is expected to approve cutting the duty on imported baby formula by half when it convenes a meeting on Monday.
The import duty on baby formula currently stands at 5 percent and reducing it by half would cost the country NT$290 million a year in revenues, according to NOWnews.
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