Tax revenue last month expanded 20.9 percent year-on-year to NT$365.3 billion (US$11.47 billion), driven mainly by a spike in corporate income taxes that offset declines in securities and property transaction taxes, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday.
Corporate income tax revenue swelled 55 percent to NT$163.4 billion last month, as companies generally reported an improvement in business, although the nation’s exports faltered, the ministry said.
In the first nine months of the year, corporate income tax revenue surged 57 percent to NT$893.8 billion, as listed companies posted a 12.83 percent annual gain in combined revenues.
Photo: Clare Cheng, Taipei Times
The robust corporate income tax revenue would give the national treasury a tax surplus of about NT$300 billion this year, although revenue generated from securities, property and sales taxes appears bound to lag behind targets, Department of Statistics Deputy Director-General Chen Yu-feng (陳玉豐) said.
Personal income tax revenue would also lend support, with revenue in the first three quarters of the year rising 29 percent to NT$562.9 billion, after gaining 1.8 percent last month alone to NT$44.2 billion, the ministry said.
Chen attributed the advance in personal income tax revenue to the extension of capital gains taxes to transfers of presale housing contracts.
Sales tax revenue slumped 16.3 percent to NT$12.2 billion after the government stretched tariff reductions on imported oil, gas and diesel to slow inflation, Chen said.
Securities transaction tax revenue last month tumbled 29.1 percent to NT$12.6 billion, while land value increment tax revenue fell 15.6 percent to NT$6 billion, as weak sentiment drove people to the sidelines, the ministry said.
As of last month, overall tax revenue grew 17.3 percent to NT$2.62 trillion, fulfilling 96.4 percent of the budget planned for this year, the ministry said, adding that the next three months would bring in generous tax surpluses for the state coffers.
Trade groups have pressed for tax refunds to help stimulate consumer spending, as exports could head south amid a global slowdown.
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