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.
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