The government last month collected NT$253.6 billion (US$8.28 billion) in tax revenue, rising 0.4 percent from a year earlier on the back of corporate and personal income tax, as well as inheritance tax gains, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday.
Corporate income tax revenue spiked 70.3 percent to NT$7.8 billion, while personal income tax revenue grew 2.6 percent to NT$22.9 billion, the ministry told a news conference in Taipei.
Despite an economic slowdown, Taiwanese firms gained headway in earnings, increased employee wages and distributed sizeable cash dividends to shareholders compared with a year earlier, Department of Statistics Deputy Director-General Chen Yu-feng (陳玉豐) said.
Photo: Clare Cheng, Taipei Times
Revenue from tariffs soared 24.8 percent to NT$13.8 billion, aided by an increase in imported vehicles and processed food, she said.
In addition, inheritance tax revenue swelled 60.8 percent to NT$4.1 billion, while revenue from business taxes picked up 4.5 percent to NT$97.8 billion, she said.
The impressive showings offset retreats in securities transaction and land value increase tax revenues, which plunged 41.7 percent and 31.8 percent to NT$13.9 billion and NT$6.5 billion respectively, the ministry’s monthly report showed.
Bleak sentiment caused by global inflation and monetary tightening continued to take a toll on the local bourse and property transactions, Chen said.
Revenue from sales taxes dropped 0.3 percent to NT$14.1 billion, attributable to tariff cuts on imported raw materials and commodities to ease inflationary pressures, it said.
Cumulative tax revenue in the first 11 months of the year rose 13.6 percent to NT$3.8 trillion, the first time the NT$3 trillion mark has been crossed in the period and exceeding the budget target for the whole year by 13 percent, the official said.
Full-year excess tax revenue might be more than NT$450 billion, Chen said, adding that corporate, personal, inheritance, business and house tax revenues have already set full-year records.
However, revenue from sales, land value gain and securities transaction taxes are likely to miss their targets, although the TAIEX recovered some losses this month, she said.
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