The government last month collected NT$76.8 billion (US$2.71 billion) in tax revenue, down 2.7 percent from February last year, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday, attributing the retreat to lower revenue from securities transaction and sales taxes.
Securities transaction tax revenue was NT$11 billion, down 13.9 percent year-on-year, as daily turnover shrank 9 percent to NT$362.9 billion, Department of Statistics Deputy Director-General Chen Yu-feng (陳玉豐) said.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and expectations of the US Federal Reserve increasing interest rates drove investors to the sidelines, Chen said.
Photo: Clare Cheng, Taipei Times
Foreign portfolio managers have cut holdings in local shares, as they are concerned about fuel and grain price increases exacerbating supply chain disruptions and weighing on corporate profits.
However, most Taiwanese tech and non-tech firms posted hefty year-on-year revenue increases for January and last month, and are expecting month-on-month revenue increases for this month, after last month had fewer working days due to the Lunar New Year holiday.
The Financial Supervisory Commission has said that the local bourse is expected to lose trading momentum this year, as global central banks would phase out favorable programs intended to mitigate effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Most Western countries have chosen to tolerate the virus, it said.
Sales tax revenue was NT$10.7 billion, down 29.4 percent year-on-year, as the government cut the sales tax on oil and diesel imports to ease inflationary pressures, and component shortages weighed on automakers, the ministry said.
Personal income tax revenue jumped 33.3 percent to NT$9.3 billion and corporate income tax revenue rose 89.9 percent to NT$5.3 billion, it said, attributing the trend to year-end bonuses.
Revenue from land value increment tax gained 0.9 percent to NT$7.2 billion, as taxable cases picked up 1.9 percent, it said.
For the first two months, overall tax revenue expanded 5.1 percent to NT$280 billion, ahead of the budget schedule by 11.3 percent, the ministry said.
On Ireland’s blustery western seaboard, researchers are gleefully flying giant kites — not for fun, but in the hope of generating renewable electricity and sparking a “revolution” in wind energy. “We use a kite to capture the wind and a generator at the bottom of it that captures the power,” said Padraic Doherty of Kitepower, the Dutch firm behind the venture. At its test site in operation since September 2023 near the small town of Bangor Erris, the team transports the vast 60-square-meter kite from a hangar across the lunar-like bogland to a generator. The kite is then attached by a
Foxconn Technology Co (鴻準精密), a metal casing supplier owned by Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), yesterday announced plans to invest US$1 billion in the US over the next decade as part of its business transformation strategy. The Apple Inc supplier said in a statement that its board approved the investment on Thursday, as part of a transformation strategy focused on precision mold development, smart manufacturing, robotics and advanced automation. The strategy would have a strong emphasis on artificial intelligence (AI), the company added. The company said it aims to build a flexible, intelligent production ecosystem to boost competitiveness and sustainability. Foxconn
Leading Taiwanese bicycle brands Giant Manufacturing Co (巨大機械) and Merida Industry Co (美利達工業) on Sunday said that they have adopted measures to mitigate the impact of the tariff policies of US President Donald Trump’s administration. The US announced at the beginning of this month that it would impose a 20 percent tariff on imported goods made in Taiwan, effective on Thursday last week. The tariff would be added to other pre-existing most-favored-nation duties and industry-specific trade remedy levy, which would bring the overall tariff on Taiwan-made bicycles to between 25.5 percent and 31 percent. However, Giant did not seem too perturbed by the
TARIFF CONCERNS: Semiconductor suppliers are tempering expectations for the traditionally strong third quarter, citing US tariff uncertainty and a stronger NT dollar Several Taiwanese semiconductor suppliers are taking a cautious view of the third quarter — typically a peak season for the industry — citing uncertainty over US tariffs and the stronger New Taiwan dollar. Smartphone chip designer MediaTek Inc (聯發科技) said that customers accelerated orders in the first half of the year to avoid potential tariffs threatened by US President Donald Trump’s administration. As a result, it anticipates weaker-than-usual peak-season demand in the third quarter. The US tariff plan, announced on April 2, initially proposed a 32 percent duty on Taiwanese goods. Its implementation was postponed by 90 days to July 9, then
RSS