Premier Sean Chen (陳冲) said yesterday that more discussion is needed before the Cabinet can decide whether to lower the current stock transaction tax of 0.3 percent as suggested by the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC).
Asked if the FSC was insisting on a lower stock transaction tax, Chen said Taiwan was a democratic country and the Cabinet would evaluate different opinions before making a final decision.
FSC Chairman Chen Yuh-chang (陳裕璋) had said the transaction tax should be lowered if a capital gains tax is introduced as proposed by the Ministry of Finance.
Currently, the transaction tax on stock turnover is 0.3 percent, reduced from 0.6 percent in the 1990s.
However, Chen said yesterday that “we cannot deny that the current 0.3 percent tax rate involves the concept of a capital gains tax.”
Minister of Finance Christina Liu (劉憶如) has voiced opposition to lowering the transaction tax, saying it is a different matter from the proposed capital gains tax.
Liu said on Monday that Taiwanese companies would not lose global competitiveness if a 1 percent capital gains tax was levied on investors.
She said this in response to FSC Vice Chairman Wu Tang-chieh’s (吳當傑) comment on Monday that a capital gains tax would increase investment costs and negatively affect market mobility, as well as the nation’s global competitiveness.
Responding to public concerns that the capital gains tax proposal was driving down the local bourse, Chen said the market was being affected by many uncertainties, including the global economic situation.
The average daily turnover on the local bourse fell 22.6 percent to NT$77.9 billion in the April 12 to April 18 period, compared with an average NT$100.7 billion in the last month before the capital gains tax was proposed.
According to the Taiwan Securities Association (證券公會), the imposition of a capital gains tax will also lead to an exodus of day traders and short-term speculators, who contribute 15 to 20 percent of the daily turnover of Taiwan’s stock market.
The association warned on Monday that its members might have to cut their staff because of shrinking business and asked the government to reconsider the capital gains tax proposal.
Meanwhile, the premier said he would encourage local businesses to raise salaries.
However, he said the restructuring of local industries would also be fundamental to long-term economic growth.
It was late morning and steam was rising from water tanks atop the colorful, but opaque-windowed, “soapland” sex parlors in a historic Tokyo red-light district. Walking through the narrow streets, camera in hand, was Beniko — a former sex worker who is trying to capture the spirit of the area once known as Yoshiwara through photography. “People often talk about this neighborhood having a ‘bad history,’” said Beniko, who goes by her nickname. “But the truth is that through the years people have lived here, made a life here, sometimes struggled to survive. I want to share that reality.” In its mid-17th to
‘MAKE OR BREAK’: Nvidia shares remain down more than 9 percent, but investors are hoping CEO Jensen Huang’s speech can stave off fears that the sales boom is peaking Shares in Nvidia Corp’s Taiwanese suppliers mostly closed higher yesterday on hopes that the US artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer would showcase next-generation technologies at its annual AI conference slated to open later in the day. The GPU Technology Conference (GTC) in California is to feature developers, engineers, researchers, inventors and information technology professionals, and would focus on AI, computer graphics, data science, machine learning and autonomous machines. The event comes at a make-or-break moment for the firm, as it heads into the next few quarters, with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s (黃仁勳) keynote speech today seen as having the ability to
The battle for artificial intelligence supremacy hinges on microchips, but the semiconductor sector that produces them has a dirty secret: It is a major source of chemicals linked to cancer and other health problems. Global chip sales surged more than 19 percent to about US$628 billion last year, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association, which forecasts double-digit growth again this year. That is adding urgency to reducing the effects of “forever chemicals” — which are also used to make firefighting foam, nonstick pans, raincoats and other everyday items — as are regulators in the US and Europe who are beginning to
NEXT GENERATION: The company also showcased automated machines, including a nursing robot called Nurabot, which is to enter service at a Taichung hospital this year Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) expects server revenue to exceed its iPhone revenue within two years, with the possibility of achieving this goal as early as this year, chairman Young Liu (劉揚偉) said on Tuesday at Nvidia Corp’s annual technology conference in San Jose, California. AI would be the primary focus this year for the company, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), as rapidly advancing AI applications are driving up demand for AI servers, Liu said. The production and shipment of Nvidia’s GB200 chips and the anticipated launch of GB300 chips in the second half of the year would propel
RSS