Government tax revenue last month fell 13 percent annually to NT$176.7 billion (US$5.88 billion), as the Lunar New Year holiday shortened the number of working days and weighed on almost all tax categories, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday.
Securities transaction tax revenue fell 60.7 percent to NT$6.9 billion, the steepest fall since February 2009 during the height of the global financial crisis, mainly because the local bourse closed for nearly two weeks for the holiday, the ministry said.
Daily market turnover averaged NT$277.1 billion last month, dropping more than 20 percent from NT$348 billion for the same time last year, as investors stayed on the sidelines to avoid holiday shocks, the ministry said in its monthly report.
Photo: Clare Cheng, Taipei Times
Foreign capital inflows recovered after the holiday, but it remains to be seen whether the trend can be sustained amid global inflation and interest rate hikes by central banks, which is unfavorable for risky assets, the report said.
Revenue from land value tax plunged 52.1 percent year-on-year to NT$5.1 billion, as the number of taxable cases slumped 42.5 percent to 36,739, it said.
The ministry attributed the poor showing to fewer working days, interest rate hikes and unfavorable government policy.
Taichung recorded the steepest decline in tax revenue, followed by Taipei and New Taipei City, the ministry said.
Fewer working days also led to lower revenues from business tax, sales tax and corporate income tax, the report said.
Personal income tax revenue was the only exception, with a 1.3 percent increase, helped by interest incomes and corporate bonuses, it said.
The ministry also revised tax revenue for last year, when a surplus beat the government’s target by 19.2 percent, or NT$523.7 billion.
The government plans to share the windfall with the public by distributing NT$6,000 in cash to all Taiwanese and qualifying foreign residents.
Separately, a tax incentive program aimed at encouraging people to purchase energy-efficient appliances is to be extended by two years to June 14, 2025, the ministry said on Tuesday.
The program, introduced in 2019, offers tax breaks of NT$500 to NT$2,000 for purchases of refrigerators, dehumidifiers and air-conditioners that meet Level 1 or 2 energy-saving standards specified by the Bureau of Energy’s rating program.
The program was extended by two years in 2021 and was set to expire on June 14 before the latest extension, the ministry said.
As of Dec. 31 last year, tax rebates totaling NT$11.9 billion had been approved for purchases of 7.2 million energy-saving home appliances, government data showed.
Additional reporting by CNA
UNPRECEDENTED PACE: Micron Technology has announced plans to expand manufacturing capabilities with the acquisition of a new chip plant in Miaoli Micron Technology Inc unveiled a newly acquired chip plant in Miaoli County yesterday, as the company expands capacity to meet growing demand for advanced DRAM chips, including high-bandwidth memory chips amid the artificial intelligence boom. The plant in Miaoli County’s Tongluo Township (銅鑼), which Micron acquired from Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電) for US$1.8 billion, is expected to make a sizeable capacity contribution to the company from fiscal 2028, the company said in a statement. It would be an extended production site of Micron’s large-scale manufacturing hub in Taichung, the company said. As the global semiconductor industry is racing to reach US$1 trillion
A man walks past real-estate advertisements outside a house in Taipei yesterday. The central bank yesterday said it plans to establish an “Inflation-at-Risk” gauge as a supplementary tool for observing inflation, as policymakers express wish to communicate more effectively with the public when making inflation forecasts.
ABOVE LEGAL REQUIREMENT: The Ministry of Economic Affairs is prepared if LNG supply is disrupted, with more than the legal requirement of 11 days of inventory Taiwan has largely secured liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies through May and arranged about half of June’s supply, Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said yesterday. Since the Middle East conflict began on Feb. 28, Taiwan’s LNG inventories have remained more than 12 days, exceeding the legal requirement of 11 days, indicating no major supply concerns for domestic gas and electricity, Kung said at a meeting of the legislature’s Economics Committee in Taipei. The ministry aims to increase the figure to 14 days by the end of next year, he said. While one or two LNG or crude oil shipments for May
Taiwan’s food delivery market could undergo a major shift if Singapore-based Grab Holdings Ltd completes its planned acquisition of Delivery Hero SE’s Foodpanda business in Taiwan, industry experts said. Grab on Monday last week announced it would acquire Foodpanda’s Taiwan operations for US$600 million. The deal is expected to be finalized in the second half of this year, with Grab aiming to complete user migration to its platform by the first half of next year. A duopoly between Uber Eats and Foodpanda dominates Taiwan’s delivery market, a structure that has remained intact since the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) blocked Uber Technologies Inc’s
RSS