The government last month collected NT$202.7 billion (US$6.97 billion) in tax revenue, up NT$1.8 billion, or 0.9 percent, from a year earlier, Ministry of Finance data showed yesterday.
The biggest increase was in business tax revenue, which rose by NT$5.4 billion, or 6.2 percent, to NT$92.6 billion, thanks to rising tax income from imported electronic components, information technology and audio-video products, as well as base metal and related finished products, the ministry said in a statement.
Other major increases in tax revenue last month came from corporate income tax, which increased by NT$2.3 billion, or 61 percent, to NT$6.1 billion, and in land value increment tax, which climbed by NT$1 billion, or 9.8 percent, to NT$10.7 9 billion, the ministry said.
Photo: Clare Cheng, Taipei Times
However, personal income tax revenue decreased by NT$5 billion, or 16 percent, from a year earlier due to differences in the time of withholding tax on year-end bonuses.
Commodity tax revenue also declined by NT$2 billion, or 13.9 percent, from the previous year, as the government lowered imported duties on fuel products to curb inflation, the ministry said.
In the first three months of the year, cumulative tax revenue rose by NT$15.5 billion, or 3.3 percent, to a record NT$482.7 billion compared with the same period last year, ministry data showed.
The January-to-March figure accounted for only 17.7 percent of the government’s target for the full year, as increases in revenues from individual income, corporate income and business taxes were offset by decreases in revenues from commodity and securities transaction taxes, the ministry said.
Individual income tax revenue increased by NT$13.6 billion, corporate income tax revenue grew by NT$7.9 billion and business tax revenue rose by NT$5.3 billion in the first three months, while commodity tax revenue declined by NT$7.7 billion over the same period, ministry data showed.
Tax revenue from securities transactions in the first three months fell by NT$5.7 billion, or 10.2 percent, to NT$50.2 billion, as the daily trading turnover on the local bourse averaged NT$363 billion, down from NT$400.7 billion a year earlier, ministry data showed.
STRONG INTEREST: Analysts have pointed to optimism in TSMC’s growth prospects in the artificial intelligence era as the cause of the rising number of shareholders The number of people holding shares of chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) hit a new high last week despite a decline in its stock price, the Taiwan Depository and Clearing Corp (TDCC, 台灣集保) said. The number of TSMC shareholders rose to 2.46 million as of Friday, up 75,536 from a week earlier, TDCC data showed. The stock price fell 1.34 percent during the same week to close at NT$1,840 (US$57.55). The decline in TSMC’s share price resulted from volatility in global tech stocks, driven by rising international crude oil prices as the war against Iran continues. Dealers said
PRICE HIKES: The war in the Middle East would not significantly disrupt supply in the short term, but semiconductor companies are facing price surges for materials Taiwan’s semiconductor companies are not facing imminent supply disruptions of essential chemicals or raw materials due to the war in the Middle East, but surges in material costs loom large, industry association SEMI Taiwan said yesterday. The association’s comments came amid growing concerns that supplies of helium and other key raw materials used in semiconductor production could become a choke point after Qatar shut down its liquefied natural gas (LNG) production and helium output earlier this month due to the conflict. Qatar is the second-largest LNG supplier in the world and accounts for about 33 percent of global helium output. Helium is
China is clamping down on fertilizer exports to protect its domestic market, industry sources said, putting an additional strain on global markets that were already grappling with shortages caused by the US-Israeli war on Iran. China is among the largest fertilizer exporters — shipping more than US$13 billion of it last year — and it has a history of controlling exports to keep prices low for farmers. Shipments through the war-blocked Strait of Hormuz account for about one-third of the sea-borne supply. This month, Beijing banned exports of nitrogen-potassium fertilizer blends and certain phosphate varieties, sources said. The ban, which has not
AMAZING ABUNDANCE: Elon Musk has announced plans for a new facility in Texas which would manufacture chips for Tesla and SpaceX to use in robotics and AI Elon Musk said his Terafab project — a grand plan to eventually manufacture his own chips for robotics, artificial intelligence (AI) and space data centers — would be built in Austin and jointly run by Tesla Inc and Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX). Musk, the chief executive officer of the two companies, said he would start off with an “advanced technology fab” in Austin that would have all of the equipment necessary to make chips of any kind. The project would call for one day supporting 1 terawatt (TW) of computing power per year, the amount Musk expects the companies to