The government last month collected NT$135.2 billion (US$4.55 billion) in tax revenue, up NT$2.5 billion, or 1.9 percent, from a year earlier, Ministry of Finance data showed yesterday.
The biggest increase came from corporate income tax, which rose by NT$10.5 billion from a year earlier, as there were large tax refunds last year, the ministry said in a statement.
Other major revenue increases last month came from personal income tax, which grew by NT$4.4 billion, license plate tax, which climbed by NT$1.1 billion, and business tax, which increased by NT$4.5 billion, the ministry said.
Photo: CNA
However, securities transaction tax revenue decreased by NT$9.2 billion, or 37.5 percent, year-on-year — the largest annual decrease in three years — as the daily trading turnover on the local bourse averaged NT$320 billion, compared with NT$526.9 billion a year earlier, it said.
Commodity tax revenue declined by NT$3.1 billion, as the government lowered import duties on fuel products to curb inflation, the ministry said.
In the first four months of the year, cumulative tax revenue rose by NT$18 billion, or 3 percent, year-on-year to a record NT$617.9 billion, ministry data showed.
The January-to-April total accounted for only 22.7 percent of the government’s target for the full year, as increases in revenues from corporate income, individual income and business taxes were offset by decreases in revenues from commodity and securities transaction taxes, the ministry said.
Ministry data showed that corporate income tax revenue increased by NT$18.4 billion, individual income tax revenue grew by NT$18 billion and business tax revenue rose by NT$4.5 billion in the four-month period, while commodity tax revenue declined by NT$10.8 billion.
Tax revenue from securities transactions in the first four months fell by NT$14.9 billion, or 18.5 percent, as the average daily trading turnover dropped to NT$352.1 billion, from NT$433.1 billion a year earlier, data showed.
The US dollar was trading at NT$29.7 at 10am today on the Taipei Foreign Exchange, as the New Taiwan dollar gained NT$1.364 from the previous close last week. The NT dollar continued to rise today, after surging 3.07 percent on Friday. After opening at NT$30.91, the NT dollar gained more than NT$1 in just 15 minutes, briefly passing the NT$30 mark. Before the US Department of the Treasury's semi-annual currency report came out, expectations that the NT dollar would keep rising were already building. The NT dollar on Friday closed at NT$31.064, up by NT$0.953 — a 3.07 percent single-day gain. Today,
‘SHORT TERM’: The local currency would likely remain strong in the near term, driven by anticipated US trade pressure, capital inflows and expectations of a US Fed rate cut The US dollar is expected to fall below NT$30 in the near term, as traders anticipate increased pressure from Washington for Taiwan to allow the New Taiwan dollar to appreciate, Cathay United Bank (國泰世華銀行) chief economist Lin Chi-chao (林啟超) said. Following a sharp drop in the greenback against the NT dollar on Friday, Lin told the Central News Agency that the local currency is likely to remain strong in the short term, driven in part by market psychology surrounding anticipated US policy pressure. On Friday, the US dollar fell NT$0.953, or 3.07 percent, closing at NT$31.064 — its lowest level since Jan.
Hong Kong authorities ramped up sales of the local dollar as the greenback’s slide threatened the foreign-exchange peg. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) sold a record HK$60.5 billion (US$7.8 billion) of the city’s currency, according to an alert sent on its Bloomberg page yesterday in Asia, after it tested the upper end of its trading band. That added to the HK$56.1 billion of sales versus the greenback since Friday. The rapid intervention signals efforts from the city’s authorities to limit the local currency’s moves within its HK$7.75 to HK$7.85 per US dollar trading band. Heavy sales of the local dollar by
The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) yesterday met with some of the nation’s largest insurance companies as a skyrocketing New Taiwan dollar piles pressure on their hundreds of billions of dollars in US bond investments. The commission has asked some life insurance firms, among the biggest Asian holders of US debt, to discuss how the rapidly strengthening NT dollar has impacted their operations, people familiar with the matter said. The meeting took place as the NT dollar jumped as much as 5 percent yesterday, its biggest intraday gain in more than three decades. The local currency surged as exporters rushed to
RSS