Tax revenue last month declined 9 percent from a year earlier to NT$332.4 billion (US$10.31 billion), as an economic slowdown weighed on corporate and personal income taxes, although securities transaction tax continued a rebound, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday.
Corporate and personal income tax revenue shrank 28.5 percent and 3.9 percent year-on-year to NT$116.9 billion and 42.5 billion respectively, ministry statistics official Liang Kuan-hsuan (梁冠璇) told an online news briefing.
Firms are less active in setting aside tax expenses this year due to poor sales, while the Mid-Autumn Festival contributed to the delay the last month, Liang said.
Photo: Clare Cheng, Taipei Times
Lackluster corporate earnings in turn dampened cash dividends, which fell 13 percent from a year earlier, accounting for the drop in personal income, she said.
Still, personal income tax revenue in the first nine months of the year already exceeded the ministry's target for the entire year, and so did business, inheritance, stamp and house tax revenues, Liang said.
The business tax revenue last month grew 11 percent to NT$105.9 billion from a year earlier and expanded 5.9 percent in the first nine months from the same period last year to NT$469.1 billion, as local financial service providers benefited from interest rate hikes at home and abroad, Liang said.
Sales taxes last month picked up 6.3 percent annually to NT$12.9 billion, mainly aided by strong demand for imported cars, she said.
Securities transaction tax revenue last month spiked 24.5 percent year-on-year to NT$15.7 billion as daily turnover soared 27.6 percent to N$312.7 billion, ministry data showed.
Overall stock investment interest strengthened compared with a year earlier, although artificial intelligence-related plays saw significant price corrections, Liang said.
On the other hand, land value incremental tax revenue, a gauge of property market health, edged up 2 percent to NT$6.1 billion last month after the number of taxable cases rose 5.1 percent to 40,741, she said, suggesting a neutral reading of the changes.
Cumulative tax revenue amounted to NT$2.79 trillion in the first nine months, a 6.3 percent increase from the same period last year and ahead of the ministry's budget schedule by 12.3 percent.
The state coffers might collect excess tax revenue of NT$100 billion this year in the absence of major shocks, the ministry said.
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: The chipmaker last month raised its capital spending by 28 percent for this year to NT$32 billion from a previous estimate of NT$25 billion Contract chipmaker Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電子) yesterday launched a new 12-inch fab, tapping into advanced chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) packaging technology to support rising demand for artificial intelligence (AI) devices. Powerchip is to offer interposers, one of three parts in CoWoS packaging technology, with shipments scheduled for the second half of this year, Powerchip chairman Frank Huang (黃崇仁) told reporters on the sidelines of a fab inauguration ceremony in the Tongluo Science Park (銅鑼科學園區) in Miaoli County yesterday. “We are working with customers to supply CoWoS-related business, utilizing part of this new fab’s capacity,” Huang said, adding that Powerchip intended to bridge
Microsoft Corp yesterday said that it would create Thailand’s first data center region to boost cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, promising AI training to more than 100,000 people to develop tech. Bangkok is a key economic player in Southeast Asia, but it has lagged behind Indonesia and Singapore when it comes to the tech industry. Thailand has an “incredible opportunity to build a digital-first, AI-powered future,” Microsoft chairman and chief executive officer Satya Nadella said at an event in Bangkok. Data center regions are physical locations that store computing infrastructure, allowing secure and reliable access to cloud platforms. The global embrace of AI
INFLATION WATCH: A rate hike in March would help keep inflation at 2.16 percent this year, although a weak currency and higher electricity rates are an issue, S&P said Moody’s Ratings and S&P Global Ratings have reaffirmed Taiwan’s sovereign credit ratings at “As3” and “AA+” respectively with a stable outlook on the back of high income and wealth levels, a strong institutional framework and robust external positions. The affirmations came as Taiwan’s economy is gaining momentum after quarters of slowdown induced by stubborn global inflation and monetary tightening. Taiwan’s strong fiscal and external buffers have improved relative to peers as evidenced by recent shocks linked to the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing US-China technology dispute, the two ratings firms said. “Taiwan stands as the epicenter of the global semiconductor supply chain, accounting
RIDING AI WAVE: : Most of its NT$15bn capital budget would be spent on packaging technologies used in AI and HPC chips and advanced testing technology, it said Chip testing and packaging service provider Powertech Technology Inc (PTI, 力成科技) plans to increase this year’s capital expenditure by 50 percent to expand capacity to meet growing demand for advanced memorychips used in artificial intelligence (AI) products. The company proposed to spend NT$15 billion (US$460.94 million) to expand advanced capacity and equipment, compared with a budget of NT$10 billion it planned three months ago. “We are seeing a recovery in market demand as well as new business opportunities. We will spend heavily on advanced packaging” equipment, Powertech chief executive officer Boris Hsieh (謝永達) told investors on Tuesday. “We will focus on ramping