The health and welfare surcharge on tobacco products will be increased from NT$10 per pack to NT$20 per pack starting today.
Chao Kun-yu (趙坤郁), director of the Bureau of Health Promotion said retail stores are allowed to sell off their existing cigarette stocks without asking customers to pay the extra NT$10 surcharge.
The surcharge increase will raise the average per-pack price for cigarettes to between NT$55 and NT$70, depending on the brand.
PHOTO: LIN MING-HUNG, TAIPEI
According to an estimate by Chao, the new measure is expected to boost annual revenues from the health and welfare surcharge from NT$20 billion (US$615 million) to between NT$32 billion and NT$36 billion.
Chao said the DOH would use 4 percent, or NT$1.39 billion, of the revenues from the surcharge as subsidies to help 470,000 people obtain national health insurance. The Bureau of National Health Insurance will receive 70 percent of the surcharge revenues and will spend NT$10 billion to meet its financial shortfall, and the rest in various areas such as cancer prevention, raising the standards of medical services and treatment of rare diseases.
Meanwhile, the “high-season” summer rates policy adopted by the Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) will also take effect starting today.
On average, a typical local family uses around 421 kwh per month during the summer, which translates to an additional NT$102 in electricity bills per month.
According to the state-owned company, the new policy is aimed at encouraging the public to conserve energy during the four months between this month and September.
Under the new rates, households using between 110 kilowatt hours (kwh) and 330kwh per month will be charged at NT$3.02 per kwh (up from NT$2.68 in other seasons). They will be charged NT$4.05 per kwh (up from NT$3.27 in other seasons) if electricity usage is between 331kwh and 500kwh per month.
Those using between 501kwh and 700kwh per month will be charged at NT$4.51 per kwh (up from NT$3.55), while any usage higher than 701kwh per month will be charged by NT$5.1 per kwh (up from NT$3.97).
But consumers that use less than 110kwh per month will still pay NT$2.1 per kwh.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck Kaohsiung at 1pm today, the Central Weather Administration said. The epicenter was in Jiasian District (甲仙), 72.1km north-northeast of Kaohsiung City Hall, at a depth of 7.8km, agency data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effects of a temblor, was highest in Kaohsiung and Tainan, where it measured a 4 on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale. It also measured a 3 in parts of Chiayi City, as well as Pingtung, Yunlin and Hualien counties, data showed.
Nearly 5 million people have signed up to receive the government’s NT$10,000 (US$322) universal cash handout since registration opened on Wednesday last week, with deposits expected to begin tomorrow, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. After a staggered sign-up last week — based on the final digit of the applicant’s national ID or Alien Resident Certificate number — online registration is open to all eligible Taiwanese nationals, foreign permanent residents and spouses of Taiwanese nationals. Banks are expected to start issuing deposits from 6pm today, the ministry said. Those who completed registration by yesterday are expected to receive their NT$10,000 tomorrow, National Treasury
Taiwan next year plans to launch its first nationwide census on elderly people living independently to identify the estimated 700,000 seniors to strengthen community-based healthcare and long-term care services, the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) said yesterday. Minister of Health and Welfare Shih Chung-liang (石崇良) said on the sidelines of a healthcare seminar that the nation’s rapidly aging population and declining birthrate have made the issue of elderly people living alone increasingly pressing. The survey, to be jointly conducted by the MOHW and the Ministry of the Interior, aims to establish baseline data and better allocate care resources, he
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