Taiwan’s tax revenue as a percentage of GDP was 14.7 percent last year, a 0.1 percentage point increase from the previous year and the highest in 26 years, the Ministry of Finance said on Friday.
The tax-to-GDP ratio gauges the proportion of a nation’s total output collected by the government through taxation and indicates the degree to which a government controls resources.
Taiwan’s ratio has hovered between 11 and 14 percent since 2000, after reaching an average of 16.5 percent from the 1980s to the 1990s, ministry data showed.
Photo: Clare Cheng, Taipei Times
Last year’s figure surpassed Singapore’s 13.7 percent, but was lower than the US’ 19.1 percent, South Korea’s 20.4 percent and Japan’s 21.2 percent, the ministry said in a report, adding that the figure ranges from 20 percent to 44 percent for European countries.
The average tax burden per capita last year was estimated at NT$159,348 (US$4,876), a NT$11,478 increase from the previous year and a new record high, it said.
Boosted by stable economic growth, wage increases and rising stock market turnover, total tax revenues collected last year were NT$3.73 trillion, a record high, and exceeded the government’s budgeted amount by NT$497.2 billion, the ministry said.
Including social security contributions, tax-to-GDP ratio stood at 20.5 percent last year, still lower than the US’ 25.2 percent, South Korea’s 28.9 percent, Japan’s 34.4 percent, Germany’s 38.1 percent and France’s 43.8 percent, it said.
Social security contributions, including labor and health insurance, have continued to rise in the past few years to comply with global trends. It reached NT$1.39 trillion last year, an increase of NT$37.3 billion, or 2.8 percent, compared with 2023, the ministry said.
From 2013 to 2023, the tax-to-GDP ratio including social security contributions had increased in 14 of the 20 major countries, and the average growth of 2.3 percent in Taiwan over that period was a mild increase compared with others, it said.
MARKET LEADERSHIP: Investors are flocking to Nvidia, drawn by the company’s long-term fundamntals, dominant position in the AI sector, and pricing and margin power Two years after Nvidia Corp made history by becoming the first chipmaker to achieve a US$1 trillion market capitalization, an even more remarkable milestone is within its grasp: becoming the first company to reach US$4 trillion. After the emergence of China’s DeepSeek (深度求索) sent the stock plunging earlier this year and stoked concerns that outlays on artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure were set to slow, Nvidia shares have rallied back to a record. The company’s biggest customers remain full steam ahead on spending, much of which is flowing to its computing systems. Microsoft Corp, Meta Platforms Inc, Amazon.com Inc and Alphabet Inc are
Luxury fashion powerhouse Prada SpA has acknowledged the ancient Indian roots of its new sandal design after the debut of the open-toe footwear sparked a furor among Indian artisans and politicians thousands of miles from the catwalk in Italy. Images from Prada’s fashion show in Milan last weekend showed models wearing leather sandals with a braided design that resembled handmade Kolhapuri slippers with designs dating back to the 12th century. A wave of criticism in the media and from lawmakers followed over the Italian brand’s lack of public acknowledgement of the Indian sandal design, which is named after a city in the
The US overtaking China as Taiwan’s top export destination could boost industrial development and wage growth, given the US is a high-income economy, an economist said yesterday. However, Taiwan still needs to diversify its export markets due to the unpredictability of US President Donald Trump’s administration, said Chiou Jiunn-rong (邱俊榮), an economics professor at National Central University. Taiwan’s exports soared to a record US$51.74 billion last month, driven by strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) products and continued orders, with information and communication technology (ICT) and audio/video products leading all sectors. The US reclaimed its position as Taiwan’s top export market, accounting for
INVESTOR RESILIENCE? An analyst said that despite near-term pressures, foreign investors tend to view NT dollar strength as a positive signal for valuation multiples Morgan Stanley has flagged a potential 10 percent revenue decline for Taiwan’s tech hardware sector this year, as a sharp appreciation of the New Taiwan dollar begins to dent the earnings power of major exporters. In what appears to be the first such warning from a major foreign brokerage, the US investment bank said the currency’s strength — fueled by foreign capital inflows and expectations of US interest rate cuts — is compressing profit margins for manufacturers with heavy exposure to US dollar-denominated revenues. The local currency has surged about 10 percent against the greenback over the past quarter and yesterday breached
RSS