The Ministry of Finance yesterday said it collected NT$119.1 billion (US$3.98 billion) in tax revenue last month, an increase of 6.1 percent from a year earlier, bolstered by larger securities transactions and dividend payouts.
The overall gains in tax revenue came even though business activity and housing deals slackened amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Trading on the local bourse is vibrant this year, allowing securities transaction tax revenue to post growth for seven months straight,” Department of Statistics Deputy Director-General Chen Yu-feng (陳玉豐) said.
Photo: AFP / Sam Yeh
Stock transactions generated NT$9.4 billion in tax revenue, jumping 12.5 percent from a year earlier, with average daily turnover rising 21.19 percent from NT$155.2 billion to NT$186.4 billion last month, Chen said.
Like other stock markets worldwide, Taiwanese equity markets have seen wild swings, but reclaimed most of their losses to the COVID-19 outbreak, as local tech firms have benefited from remote working and learning arrangements, which boosted demand for laptops, tablets and information technology devices.
For the first four months of this year, stock transactions rose to a new high since the global financial crisis in 2009, Chen said.
Personal income tax revenue surged 49.5 percent to NT$29.3 billion last month, attributable primarily to the quarterly distribution of cash dividends by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker.
The ministry has voiced misgivings about the continued upturn in income tax revenue, as it has pushed back the deadline by one month for personal income tax filings this year from May 31 to June 30.
It would be better to make a final judgement after the dust settles, Chen said.
His warning came after corporate income tax revenue and business tax revenue both slipped into negative territory.
Chen pinned the blame on diminished economic activity and an oil price rout, which wreaked havoc on duties from imports of oil, chemical and mineral products.
Business tax revenue might fare worse this month, which reflects partial data for last month, Chen said.
The virus outbreak also weighed on property transactions. Revenue from land value increase tax last month declined 10.7 percent to NT$7.5 billion, with the number of deals shrinking 5.6 percent to 46,545, the ministry said in a report.
Cumulative property transactions totaled 187,121 cases from January to last month, falling 3.4 percent from the same period last year, it said.
However, liquor and tobacco tax revenue held firm with a 6.8 percent increase to NT$5.6 billion, despite a decline in dinner gatherings.
The ministry collected NT$519.6 billion of tax revenue in the first four months, an increase of 9.2 percent from a year earlier and ahead of its budget schedule by 8.6 percent.
Ryanair, Transavia, Volotea and other low-cost airlines are feeling the financial pain from high jet fuel prices as a result of the Middle East war and are cutting flights. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has taken a huge chunk of oil supplies off the market, sending the price of jet fuel soaring and triggering fears of shortages that could force airlines to cancel flights. Airlines are not waiting for a lack of supplies to react. “Travel alert: Airlines are cutting thousands of flights right now,” Travel Therapy host Karen Schaler said in an Instagram reel this past weekend.
MANAGING RISKS: Taiwan has secured LNG sufficient to cover 95 percent of electricity demand for next month, UBS said, describing the government’s approach as proactive UBS Group AG has raised its forecast for Taiwan’s economic growth this year to 8 percent, up from 6.9 percent previously, and said expansion could reach as high as 8.6 percent if external energy shocks are avoided. The upgrade reflects a stronger-than-expected first-quarter performance and sustained momentum in artificial intelligence (AI)-driven exports, which UBS said are providing a firm foundation for growth despite geopolitical and energy risks. Taiwan’s GDP expanded 13.69 percent year-on-year in the first quarter, the fastest growth since the second quarter of 1987, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) reported on Thursday. On a seasonally
The Fair Trade Commission’s (FTC) ongoing review of Grab Holdings Ltd’s US$600 million acquisition of Foodpanda Taiwan’s operations, announced on March 23, has taken on fresh urgency as industry experts warn that the transaction could embed significant Chinese cybersecurity vulnerabilities into Taiwan’s digital infrastructure through Grab’s deep ties to autonomous-driving firm WeRide (文遠知行). Less than 16 months after the FTC blocked Uber Eats’ direct attempt to acquire Foodpanda Taiwan — citing potential combined market shares of 80 to 90 percent — the emergence of Grab as the buyer has prompted questions about whether the same competitive harm is simply being rerouted
The list of Asian stocks that benefit from business partnership with Nvidia Corp is getting longer, as the region further integrates into the artificial intelligence (AI) chip giant’s business ecosystem. Just in the past week, South Korea’s LG Electronics Inc, Taiwan’s Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技), as well as China’s Huizhou Desay SV Automotive Co (德賽西威) and Pateo Connect Technology Shanghai Corp (博泰車聯) have become the latest to rally on news of tie-ups, supply-chain participation or product collaboration with the US chip designer. Asian suppliers account for about 90 percent of Nvidia’s production costs, up from about 65 percent last year, data compiled
RSS