Legislators yesterday agreed during cross-caucus negotiations to put amendments to the securities transaction tax and capital gains tax at the top of the legislative agenda, but required them to be put to further negotiations.
The presidential candidates of both the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) attended their respective party caucus meetings ahead of the general assembly yesterday, which was the first day of the last plenary session of this legislature.
KMT presidential candidate Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) sought solidarity with the caucus to ensure her policy calling for a reform of the securities transaction and capital gains taxes, launched in the middle of last month, is supported in the legislature.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
The amendments to the Securities Transaction Tax Act (證券交易稅條例) and the Income Tax Act (所得稅法) have been put on the top of the legislative discussion agenda without committee review, according to a conclusion resolved by the cross-caucus negotiation session yesterday morning.
The resolution also demanded that further negotiation is needed on the two bills, preventing their immediate passage.
DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) said that with the bills referred to negotiation, a floor vote on them would not be possible until at least a month later, adding that the DPP caucus does not agree with Hung’s version.
DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said the KMT’s latest version of the reform has actually “inched toward the DPP’s version.”
“The [caucuses] can have a thorough discussion on the issue to establish an enduring system,” Tsai said. “The DPP’s basic attitude on the bills is that tax revenues for the state coffers, the fairness of the system and the feasibility are equally important.”
The main clause of Hung’s policy is to divide the current 0.3 percent securities transaction tax into two parts: a 0.25 percent securities transaction tax and a 0.05 percent capital gains tax, with no extra charges for “big traders.”
The DPP, in terms of the percentages, has proposed a 0.3 percent securities transaction tax and a 0.1 percent capital gains tax that would not be levied if the investor does not make any profit.
Meanwhile, at the same general assembly yesterday, a proposal tabled by KMT Legislator Lu Hsueh-chang (呂學樟) to eliminate benefits accorded the nation’s retired leaders if they “offend the nation’s dignity,” targeted at former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) for his remarks calling Japan his motherland before World War II, was protested by the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) and the DPP and sent back to the Procedure Committee.
Also at yesterday’s floor meeting, KMT Legislator Chang Ching-chung (張慶忠) — who gained notoriety for ramming through the controversial cross-strait service trade agreement that had helped trigger the Sunflower movement last year — raised some eyebrows.
When TSU lawmakers held up banners urging the legislature to put the three broadcast law amendments on the legislative discussion agenda (which were all voted down), Chang interrupted with a different poster as he kneeled on a desk in front of the legislative speaker’s podium and held up a banner calling for an immediate review of an oversight mechanism for cross-strait agreements, which has been stalled in the legislature due to the controversy surrounding it.
FALSE DOCUMENTS? Actor William Liao said he was ‘voluntarily cooperating’ with police after a suspect was accused of helping to produce false medical certificates Police yesterday questioned at least six entertainers amid allegations of evasion of compulsory military service, with Lee Chuan (李銓), a member of boy band Choc7 (超克7), and actor Daniel Chen (陳大天) among those summoned. The New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office in January launched an investigation into a group that was allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified medical documents. Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) has been accused of being one of the group’s clients. As the investigation expanded, investigators at New Taipei City’s Yonghe Precinct said that other entertainers commissioned the group to obtain false documents. The main suspect, a man surnamed
DEMOGRAPHICS: Robotics is the most promising answer to looming labor woes, the long-term care system and national contingency response, an official said Taiwan is to launch a five-year plan to boost the robotics industry in a bid to address labor shortages stemming from a declining and aging population, the Executive Yuan said yesterday. The government approved the initiative, dubbed the Smart Robotics Industry Promotion Plan, via executive order, senior officials told a post-Cabinet meeting news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s population decline would strain the economy and the nation’s ability to care for vulnerable and elderly people, said Peter Hong (洪樂文), who heads the National Science and Technology Council’s (NSTC) Department of Engineering and Technologies. Projections show that the proportion of Taiwanese 65 or older would
Democracies must remain united in the face of a shifting geopolitical landscape, former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) told the Copenhagen Democracy Summit on Tuesday, while emphasizing the importance of Taiwan’s security to the world. “Taiwan’s security is essential to regional stability and to defending democratic values amid mounting authoritarianism,” Tsai said at the annual forum in the Danish capital. Noting a “new geopolitical landscape” in which global trade and security face “uncertainty and unpredictability,” Tsai said that democracies must remain united and be more committed to building up resilience together in the face of challenges. Resilience “allows us to absorb shocks, adapt under
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said it is building nine new advanced wafer manufacturing and packaging factories this year, accelerating its expansion amid strong demand for high-performance computing (HPC) and artificial intelligence (AI) applications. The chipmaker built on average five factories per year from 2021 to last year and three from 2017 to 2020, TSMC vice president of advanced technology and mask engineering T.S. Chang (張宗生) said at the company’s annual technology symposium in Hsinchu City. “We are quickening our pace even faster in 2025. We plan to build nine new factories, including eight wafer fabrication plants and one advanced
RSS