The national treasury last month collected NT$132.7 billion (US$4.75 billion) in tax revenue, an increase of 11.4 percent from a year earlier, bolstered mainly by sharp increases in securities and property transactions, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday.
Securities transactions generated a record NT$24.4 billion in tax revenue, rising 1.6 times from a year earlier, as daily turnover on the Taiwan Stock Exchange and the Taipei Exchange expanded almost threefold to a new high of NT$526.9 billion, Department of Statistics Deputy Director-General Chen Yu-feng (陳玉豐) told a news conference in Taipei.
Securities transaction tax revenue has increased for 19 consecutive months, the third-longest streak of gains, trailing only 21 months from 1996 to 1997 and 22 months from 1988 to 1990, Chen said.
Photo: CNA
The figure might climb higher this month based on daily trading volumes so far.
Market turnover yesterday surged to a record NT$714.835 billion, even though COVID-19 pandemic selloffs pushed the TAIEX down 652.48 points to 16,583.13.
For the first four months of this year, securities transaction tax revenue more than doubled from the same period last year to NT$80.4 billion, the ministry’s monthly report showed.
Land value increment tax revenue contributed NT$8.4 billion to the state chest, representing an annual increase of 12.1 percent, as the number of taxable cases swelled 23.6 percent to 57,510, it said.
A total of 226,643 deals subject to property gains taxes were recorded from January to last month, an increase of 21.1 percent from a year earlier, the ministry said.
Inheritance and gift tax revenue last month rose 63.6 percent to NT$3.9 billion, while sales tax revenue grew 11.5 percent to NT$16 billion, it said.
By contrast, personal income tax revenue shrank 2.4 percent to NT$28.6 billion, while corporate income tax revenue slid into negative territory due to tax returns, Chen said.
Tax revenue in the first four months of this year increased 15.5 percent year-on-year to NT$599.9 billion, beating the ministry’s forecast by 16.6 percent and covering 24.6 percent of the government budget for this year, the report said.
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