A recovery in business activity, and vibrant securities and property transactions have led to a 10.3 percent year-on-year increase in tax revenue, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday, adding that revenue totaled NT$231.7 billion (US$8.13 billion) last month.
Business tax revenue rose 9.1 percent year-on-year to NT$86 billion, aided by a pickup in manufacturing and retail sales, Department of Statistics Deputy Director-General Chen Yu-feng (陳玉豐) said, adding that an increase in imports of electrical and machinery equipment also lent support.
Corporate income tax revenue rose 6 percent to NT$4.2 billion, while personal income tax bounced 16.3 percent to NT$20 billion, as Taiwan increasingly cast off the negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the ministry said.
Photo: CNA
Securities transaction tax revenue surged 55.5 percent to NT$13.8 billion, after daily turnover swelled by 77.3 percent on the Taiwan Stock Exchange and 62.5 percent on the Taipei Exchange, the ministry’s monthly report showed.
The local markets have seen rapid inflows of funds from home and abroad as global central banks cut interest rates to nearly zero or below zero, driving investors to pursue better returns elsewhere
Taiwan emerges as an attractive destination owing to its resilient economy and competitive technology firms.
Land value increment tax revenue rose 27 percent to NT$11.1 billion, the highest since the introduction of combined property taxes in 2016, following a 21.7 percent uptick in taxable cases to 57,567, Chen said.
Property transactions last month showed evident gains in Taipei, New Taipei City, Taoyuan, Hsinchu, Tainan and Kaohsiung, Chen said.
Increased transactions have pushed up home prices nationwide, prompting the central bank to tighten credit controls by on Monday capping the loan-to-value ratios at 50 to 60 percent.
Previously, it was common for local banks to grant lending at 80 percent of property values.
For the first 11 months, the ministry collected NT$2.24 trillion in tax revenue, representing a 3.8 percent decline from the same period last year, slightly behind its budget target.
Chen said that the full-year volume might disappoint, due to profitability retreats among local firms, and a tax cut from 10 percent to 5 percent on retained earnings.
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