The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus said that the party and the Cabinet have reached a consensus on supporting KMT presidential candidate Hung Hsiu-chu’s (洪秀柱) policy on reforms to the securities transaction tax and capital gains tax.
After a meeting with the related Cabinet members yesterday, the caucus said that the three major finance-related officials — central bank Governor Perng Fai-nan (彭淮南), Minister of Finance Chang Sheng-ford (張盛和) and Financial Supervisory Commission Chairman William Tseng (曾銘宗) — all attended the meeting and, along with the KMT caucus members, supported Hung’s version of the amendment.
KMT Legislator Alex Fai (費鴻泰) said that Chang decided to support the KMT’s version after comparing it to those of the Democratic Progressive Party and the People First Party.
Fai said the version to be proposed by the KMT is no different from the one tabled by Hung, which 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.
Concerning the capital gains tax, active stock traders could choose, before investing, to pay either the 0.05 percent tax on transactions (as capital gains tax) or a 15 percent tax on the stock gains earned thereafter.
“We will have it passed the second and third readings in the legislature at the end of October or the beginning of November, after the legislative question-and-answer session in the general assembly,” Fai said.
The caucus said that KMT Legislator Luo Ming-tsai’s (羅明才) version of the abolition of the capital gains tax, which has already been proposed in the legislature, would be “revised” to the extent that it is no different from Hung’s version.
KMT caucus whip Lai Shyh-bao (賴士葆) said he would hope to undertake the speediest passage of the bill.
“We want it to directly be referred to the second reading [without going through committee deliberation] and have it discussed in the general assembly,” Lai said.
Perng reportedly said during the meeting that according to former finance ministers and former FSC chairmen, the nation’s securities transaction tax already included capital gains tax.
KMT Legislator Tseng Chu-wei (曾巨威) said Taiwan has up to this point been unable to reach a consensus on whether the securities transaction tax includes capital gains tax.
“The [coming] amendment could put this dispute to rest,” Tseng said.
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