A by-election is to be held for Taichung’s second electoral district on Jan. 9 following the recall of former legislator Chen Po-wei (陳柏惟) of the Taiwan Statebuilding Party.
The Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) candidate is the district’s former legislator, Yen Kuan-heng (顏寬恒), who is the son of former legislator Yen Ching-piao (顏清標) and brother of Taichung City Councilor and Council Speaker Yen Li-min (顏莉敏).
In Fengshu Borough (楓樹), in Taichung’s Nantun District (南屯), the Yen family built a house on lot No. 817, which in Taichung’s urban plan is reserved for the construction of public facilities — in this case, a playground.
The Taichung City Government confirmed that the structure is illegal and issued a letter instructing the owners to demolish it within 14 days.
Faced with a public outcry, the Yen family erected temporary fencing around the building and spray-painted the character chai (拆), meaning “to be demolished,” on a perimeter wall.
However, even if the wall and illegal structure are demolished, the Taichung Local Tax Bureau should check whether the legally designated amount of land value tax has been levied on the plot.
Article 19 of the Land Tax Act (土地稅法) stipulates that if land reserved for public facilities under an urban plan is nonetheless used for construction, land value tax will be levied upon it at a rate of 0.6 percent, unless it meets the conditions for land used for self-use residence, in which case the tax rate will be 0.2 percent.
The article states that no land value tax will be levied on any such land that is not being used for any purpose and is segregated from any land that is being used.
The problem is that the house includes outdoor and indoor areas totaling 2,218m2 and, as well as a building supposedly intended for a self-use residence — reportedly a guest house — the plot has other features, such as paved roads, landscaping and lawns.
The plot was still walled as of early this month, so it did not meet the Land Tax Act’s requirements to be exempted from the land value tax. In other words, not only should the 200m2 of self-use residential land be taxed at 0.2 percent, the remaining 2,018m2 should be taxed at 0.6 percent.
Even if the Yen family demolishes the perimeter wall and illegal structure, it is not segregated, so it would still not meet the requirements for a tax exemption.
Yuan Shang-ching is a property management researcher.
Translated by Julian Clegg
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