Taiwan’s tax revenues declined year-on-year last month, driven by sharp drops in stock market turnover and property transactions, as consumer and investor sentiment was dampened by concerns over US tariffs and the central bank’s tightened credit controls, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday.
The national treasury collected NT$154.1 billion (US$5.08 billion) in tax revenue last month, down 3.1 percent from a year earlier, primarily due to a 31 percent drop to NT$17.8 billion in securities transaction tax revenue, ministry statistician Liu Shun-rong (劉訓蓉) said.
“Wild market volatility drove investors to the sidelines following an unprecedented stock rout on April 7 and a sharp rebound on April 10,” Liu said.
Photo: Clare Cheng, Taipei Times
The turbulence was triggered by US President Donald Trump’s announcement of “reciprocal” tariffs on specific countries, which sparked a global equities selloff, Liu said, adding that Trump later declared a 90-day pause in an attempt to calm market jitters.
Daily turnover on the local main board averaged NT$338.1 billion last month, a slump of 33.7 percent from NT$509.7 billion a year earlier, the ministry said.
Real-estate activity also weakened, with land value increment tax revenue falling 28.3 percent to NT$5.4 billion, and deed tax revenue dropping 27.1 percent to NT$1.2 billion, it said.
In addition to the negative wealth effect, the central bank’s ongoing credit controls continued to weigh on buying interest, Liu said.
Meanwhile, corporate income tax revenue entered negative territory, which Liu attributed primarily to major tax refunds.
Cumulative tax revenues in the first four months of the year fell 1.2 percent year-on-year to NT$708 billion, falling short of the government’s budget target by 2.3 percent, the ministry said.
That came as land value gains tax revenue in the first four months dropped 13.8 percent annually to NT$25.1 billion, while deed tax revenue declined 16.8 percent to NT$4.9 billion over the same period, it said.
Securities transaction tax revenue also slipped 15 percent to NT$74.8 billion over the same period, it added.
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