A smokers’ rights group yesterday filed a complaint with the Control Yuan, urging the watchdog organization to look into recent allegations that the Health Promotion Administration has misused the health and welfare surcharge on tobacco products.
The Taiwan Smokers’ Rights Promotion Association (TSRPA) made the move about a week after several Taiwan Solidarity Union legislators accused the administration of having allowed different government agencies to use 30 percent of the surcharge revenue — which amounts to nearly NT$30 billion (US$949 million) a year — on unrelated matters.
The lawmakers cited a private foundation headed by former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator Hou Tsai-feng (侯彩鳳), which they said had been allocated subsidies from the tobacco surcharge several times to print lunar calendars and a gourmet guidebook.
“The administration has dismissed the allegations by claiming that there is nothing illegal about the matter. It has also threatened to take legal action against whoever reports, shares or comments on such unfounded rumors,” TSRPA director-general Chen Chi-an (陳麒安) told a press conference in front of the Control Yuan yesterday morning.
Chen said the agency’s “condescending response” prompted the association to lodge the complaint against Health Promotion Administration Director-General Chiou Shu-ti (邱淑媞) on three grounds: dereliction of duty; benefiting specific individuals and political parties; and inadequate implementation of government policies.
It also urged the Control Yuan to investigate appropriations of the tobacco surcharge’s revenue over the past few years.
“The day we realize that the purpose of a government policy is to favor certain people and parties and to serve as a channel for transferring benefits ... is the day we must stop suffering in silence and stand up against this unjust system,” Chen said.
Chiou could not be reached for comments as of press time.
In a separate event earlier yesterday, Chiou said the Tobacco Control Act (菸害防治法) stipulates that the surcharge on tobacco sales should be reviewed and adjusted every two years, but six years have passed since the last increase in the levy.
“There are three major obstacles standing in the way of another increase: corporations, corporations and corporations,” Chiou said.
Chiou said her agency’s plans to further raise the surcharge and sales tax on cigarettes by NT$20 and NT$5 per pack respectively in the near future, a plan that she said could reduce the nation’s smoking rate by 20.8 percent, prompt 740,000 smokers to quit and create a long-term benefit of about NT$296 billion to society.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS