The nation’s tax revenue last year set a new record at NT$2.37 trillion (US$76.9 billion), up 5.1 percent from 2017, according to preliminary statistics released on Thursday by the Ministry of Finance.
The ministry attributed the growth mainly to revenue increases in corporate income, business, individual income and securities transaction taxes.
The corporate income tax brought in revenue of NT$565.4 billion, up 12.3 percent from 2017; the business tax revenue increased by NT$20 billion to NT$405 billion; and revenue from individual income tax rose by NT$22 billion to NT$505.1 billion — all setting new records, the ministry said in a report.
The securities transaction tax revenue rose by NT$11.1 billion to NT$101.1 billion, the highest in eight years, while revenue from the tobacco and alcohol tax, house tax and vehicle license tax all reached record highs, the report said.
However, revenue from the estate and gift tax was NT$31.6 billion, the lowest since 2015 and down 38.64 percent from 2017, it said.
Overall, last year’s total tax revenue was NT$69.8 billion higher than the ministry’s target, and the surplus could widen to about NT$88.8 billion when the ministry provides more accurate statistics next month, a ministry official said.
That is because the preliminary data do not include about NT$19 billion in taxes collected by other government agencies, which are expected to enter the national coffers this month, the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister newspaper of the Taipei Times) reported, citing Department of Statistics Deputy Director-General Chen Yu-feng (陳玉豐).
The extra revenue does not mean the nation is richer or has posted a fiscal surplus, which means that annual revenue exceeds annual expenditures, as tax revenue is only part of the nation’s income, Chen said, according to the Liberty Times.
Last year’s fiscal surplus could reach about NT$21.1 billion after taking into account other types of income, changes in government spending and asset sales, as well as debt repayments, the ministry said.
In 2017, the government’s outstanding long-term debt with a maturity of more than one year was NT$5.36 trillion, accounting for 32.14 percent of the past three years’ GDP combined, the ministry’s National Treasury Administration said in November.
When the debt of local governments was included, the total long-term debt reached NT$6.21 trillion, equivalent to 37.26 percent of the past three years’ GDP combined, it said.
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