The Kaohsiung City Government yesterday said it would impose a property hoarding tax as it is seeking to contain speculation in the real-estate market, calling recent price increases “abnormal.”
The announcement came in support of the Ministry of Finance’s call for local governments to levy a high tax rate on people with more than one property.
Ministry officials on Tuesday discussed strategies to rein in speculation with the nation’s six special municipalities, as well as the Hsinchu city and county governments.
Photo: CNA
About 84,000 out of 1.06 million housing units in Kaohsiung are not residential property, the city government said in a statement yesterday.
The city would implement the hoarding tax based on three principles: fulfilling housing justice, keeping individual houses intact and ensuring that owners do not pass on the costs to renters, it said.
The city government has not yet decided on the tax rate, which would be subject to approval by city councilors, it said.
The ministry levies a tax of 1.5 to 3.6 percent on non-residential housing units and allows local governments to add their own taxes, capped at 30 percent.
The Taipei City Government levies a 2.4 percent hoarding tax for units held by owners with fewer than two units and 3.6 percent for those who own more than three units.
The Kaohsiung City Government said it is also stepping up efforts to build 10,500 social housing units and offering subsidies for renters to safeguard people’s fundamental right of housing.
City authorities would continue cracking down on illegal housing transactions involving nonbinding contracts.
Meanwhile, the Tainan City Government is planning to impose a hoarding tax next year.
At the meeting at the ministry, representatives from New Taipei City, Taoyuan, Taichung, and Hsinchu city and county also agreed to impose hoarding taxes.
NEW MARKET: The partnership opens up India to the Dutch company, which already has a strong hold in the semiconductor market of South Korea, Taiwan and China ASML Holding NV entered into a partnership agreement with Tata Electronics Pvt Ltd aimed at ramping up India’s goal to develop domestic chip-manufacturing capabilities. The Dutch company’s technology would help power Tata Electronics’ planned 300 millimeter (mm) semiconductor foundry in Gujarat, according to a joint statement from the two companies on Saturday. The signing of a memorandum of understanding coincides with a visit by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the Netherlands, which is looking to deepen bilateral relations with New Delhi. ASML, whose top customers include Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) and Samsung Electronics Co, makes lithography machines that can print
TECH RELIANCE: Growth is increasingly reflecting an unequal K-shaped distribution, where technology sectors outperform and other industries struggle, an expert said Standard Chartered Bank has significantly raised its forecast for Taiwan’s economic growth to 9.5 percent this year, up from 7.6 percent previously, citing surging artificial intelligence (AI) demand driving exports, semiconductor production and investment. The upgrade reflects a sustained AI supercycle that continues to fuel demand for advanced chips and technology infrastructure, which form the backbone of Taiwan’s exports, the bank said in a report this week. “We raise our 2026 growth forecast to reflect a much stronger-than-expected first-quarter GDP figure,” Standard Chartered senior economist for greater China and Asia Tommy Wu (胡東安) said in the report. Driven largely by a 35.3 percent
Tokyo Electron's Taiwan unit today said in a written response that it respects the judicial process, takes the court ruling seriously and would not appeal in the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) trade secrets case. Last month, a court fined the Taiwan unit of Japan's Tokyo Electron NT$150 million (US$4.74 million) in a case involving trade secrets related to TSMC's sensitive chip technology.
Two of Taiwan’s international carriers, Starlux Airlines Co (星宇航空) and EVA Airways Corp (長榮航空), have retained the five-star airline rating awarded by international airline review organization Skytrax. Starlux was awarded the distinction for a second consecutive year, while EVA Air received it for the 11th straight year, Skytrax said in statements released yesterday and on Thursday last week, respectively. The five-star rating is considered one of the airline industry's highest honors and is awarded following professional audits of airline product and frontline service standards, Skytrax said. The ratings are based on in-depth assessments using unified global quality standards rather than customer review scores
RSS