■ TAXATION
Poll identifies tax failings
Most taxpayers are dissatisfied with the discretionary power of tax authorities, which they say leads to arbitrary implementation of tax policies, according to the results of a taxpayer rights survey released earlier this week. Of the 437,671 people responding to the online survey conducted by the Taipei-based Chinese Association for Human Rights, 91,506 identified this as their number one complaint. The second-most common problem — receiving 59,926 votes — was that administrative remedies for taxpayers exist “in name only.” In third place with 56,591 votes, was judges’ unfamiliarity with tax laws, which respondents said often lead to administrative courts ruling in favor of tax authorities.
■ TOURISM
Free holiday offered
Youchih Township (魚池) in Nantou County is offering visitors a chance to win a free holiday at Sun Moon Lake next year if they make a wish at Syuanguang Temple during the Mid-Autumn Festivities, which fall on Wednesday. To take part in the lucky draw, visitors to the temple from now until Sept. 28 can obtain wish slips from the temple administration, fill them out and drop them into a wish box, the organizers said. The township will draw the winner on Sept. 28. If the winner is from abroad, he or she will receive a free plane ticket and accommodation. If a local visitor wins the lucky draw, he or she will be offered a free three-day, two-night holiday package, the organizers said.
■ DEFENSE
MOFA thanks congressman
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday expressed its thanks to a US congressman over his support for Taiwan’s bid to procure F-16s from the US. In an extension of remarks inserted into the Congressional Record on Sept. 14, Representative Edward Royce, a California Republican in the House Foreign Affairs Committee, urged the US administration to move ahead with the sale to Taiwan. Citing the Pentagon’s annual report on Chinese military capabilities and the Defense Intelligence Agency, Royce said that “while China rapidly builds its military forces, Taiwan is struggling.” In May, more than 130 members of Congress wrote to US President Barack Obama asking the administration to move ahead immediately with the sale of the aircraft. Royce said: “The gravitation to the US will only last as long as the US is seen as a credible guarantee of stability. Moving ahead with this F-16 sale would be an appropriate signal to Taiwan and the region.”
■ TRANSPORTATION
TRA to install cameras
Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) said yesterday it was considering installing surveillance cameras on its trains amid concerns about crime. The new model passenger cars on TRA’s trains are all equipped with alarm systems and older carriages have already been outfitted this year, said Taiwan Railways Locomotive Department Director Ho Hsien-lin (何獻霖). The state-owned railway company is examining the feasibility of installing surveillance cameras on the trains, he said, in response to a proposal by Chinese Nationalist Party Legislator Lin Tsang-min (林滄敏). Lin introduced the proposal amid public concern following the rape of a high school girl in a train bathroom in May. The safety of TRA passengers is important, especially as about 375,000 students and other commuters take the trains daily, Lin said.
A crowd of over 200 people gathered outside the Taipei District Court as two sisters indicted for abusing a 1-year-old boy to death attended a preliminary hearing in the case yesterday afternoon. The crowd held up signs and chanted slogans calling for aggravated penalties in child abuse cases and asking for no bail and “capital punishment.” They also held white flowers in memory of the boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), who was allegedly tortured to death by the sisters in December 2023. The boy died four months after being placed in full-time foster care with the
A Taiwanese woman on Sunday was injured by a small piece of masonry that fell from the dome of St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican during a visit to the church. The tourist, identified as Hsu Yun-chen (許芸禎), was struck on the forehead while she and her tour group were near Michelangelo’s sculpture Pieta. Hsu was rushed to a hospital, the group’s guide to the church, Fu Jing, said yesterday. Hsu was found not to have serious injuries and was able to continue her tour as scheduled, Fu added. Mathew Lee (李世明), Taiwan’s recently retired ambassador to the Holy See, said he met
The Shanlan Express (山嵐號), or “Mountain Mist Express,” is scheduled to launch on April 19 as part of the centennial celebration of the inauguration of the Taitung Line. The tourism express train was renovated from the Taiwan Railway Corp’s EMU500 commuter trains. It has four carriages and a seating capacity of 60 passengers. Lion Travel is arranging railway tours for the express service. Several news outlets were invited to experience the pilot tour on the new express train service, which is to operate between Hualien Railway Station and Chihshang (池上) Railway Station in Taitung County. It would also be the first tourism service
A BETRAYAL? It is none of the ministry’s business if those entertainers love China, but ‘you cannot agree to wipe out your own country,’ the MAC minister said Taiwanese entertainers in China would have their Taiwanese citizenship revoked if they are holding Chinese citizenship, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said. Several Taiwanese entertainers, including Patty Hou (侯佩岑) and Ouyang Nana (歐陽娜娜), earlier this month on their Weibo (微博) accounts shared a picture saying that Taiwan would be “returned” to China, with tags such as “Taiwan, Province of China” or “Adhere to the ‘one China’ principle.” The MAC would investigate whether those Taiwanese entertainers have Chinese IDs and added that it would revoke their Taiwanese citizenship if they did, Chiu told the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper
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