The Cabinet yesterday approved an amendment to the Act for the Establishment and Management of Free Ports (自由貿易港區設置管理條例) that would grant foreign companies income tax exemption, in a bid to attract multinational logistics enterprises.
Draft article 29 of the amendment states that a foreign enterprise or its branch registered in the country, which — by itself or entrusting a company in the free port — engages in storage or simple reprocessing and makes delivery of the foreign company’s products to customers abroad shall be exempted from business income tax.
If the products are sold to customers domestically, the company will be taxed business income tax when its domestic sales accounts for less than 10 percent of aggregate sales.
The amendment suggested lowering the minimum number of Aboriginal laborers that companies in free ports are required to hire from 5 percent of total staff to 1 percent.
It stipulated that the government would provide various subsidies to businesses whose Aboriginal laborers made up between 1 percent and 3 percent of its work force.
“The revisions will help remove obstacles impeding multinational companies from investing in the country’s free ports,” said Yin Cheng-peng (尹承蓬), the head of the Department of Navigation and Aviation under the Ministry of Transportation and Communication (MOTC).
Also approved at the Cabinet meeting was a draft bill designed to set up a state-owned company to manage the Taoyuan International Airport Zone, a planned free trade zone near the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport where businesses will enjoy preferential taxes and fewer labor restrictions.
Lee Lung-wen (李龍文), director-general of the MOTC’s Civil Aviation Administration, said that the government would put NT$28 billion (US$829.7 million) into the company that will have a staff of about 462.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
EVERYONE’S ISSUE: Kim said that during a visit to Taiwan, she asked what would happen if China attacked, and was told that the global economy would shut down Taiwan is critical to the global economy, and its defense is a “here and now” issue, US Representative Young Kim said during a roundtable talk on Taiwan-US relations on Friday. Kim, who serves on the US House of Representatives’ Foreign Affairs Committee, held a roundtable talk titled “Global Ties, Local Impact: Why Taiwan Matters for California,” at Santiago Canyon College in Orange County, California. “Despite its small size and long distance from us, Taiwan’s cultural and economic importance is felt across our communities,” Kim said during her opening remarks. Stanford University researcher and lecturer Lanhee Chen (陳仁宜), lawyer Lin Ching-chi
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