Stricter regulations proved effective in protecting farmland, Council of Agriculture (COA) Minister Lin Tsung-hsien (林聰賢) said on Monday in response to Yilan County acting commissioner Derek Chen’s (陳金德) criticism of a tax policy Lin implemented.
Chen was appointed acting commissioner on Nov. 6 after he resigned as CPC Corp, Taiwan chairman in response to widespread power outages on Aug. 15.
Upon taking office, Chen said he would cancel county taxes on structures built in the middle of farmland, which Lin implemented last year during his term as county commissioner.
The policy is flawed, Chen said, adding that tax revenues from the regulation should be returned to farm owners.
The COA’s regulation that farmhouses should be built on the corners of farmland or by the roadside is illegitimate, as the Agricultural Development Act (農業發展條例) does not make such a stipulation, Chen said on Saturday
The regulation is aimed at preventing further fragmenting of farmland, COA Deputy Minister Chen Chi-chun (陳吉仲) said at a news conference in Taipei on Monday.
The regulation corresponds with Article 18 of the act, which stipulates that structures on farmland should be built for agricultural purposes, he said.
People should apply for special permits to build houses on farmland and ensure that 90 percent of their land is used for agriculture, he said.
Since 2015, stricter regulations have successfully curbed illegal construction of structures on farmland, with a 77.87 percent reduction recorded last year, Lin said on Facebook.
As for higher taxes on illegal farmhouses, the Yilan District Court had overruled an administrative lawsuit filed by a resident last year, on the grounds that the tax policy did not violate the House Tax Act (房屋稅條例), Lin said.
The county government yesterday issued Chen a NT$60,000 fine over a Wujie Township (五結) property he uses as a bed-and-breakfast.
Chen promised to avoid a conflict of interest.
Additional reporting by CNA
Costa Rica sent a group of intelligence officials to Taiwan for a short-term training program, the first time the Central American country has done so since the countries ended official diplomatic relations in 2007, a Costa Rican media outlet reported last week. Five officials from the Costa Rican Directorate of Intelligence and Security last month spent 23 days in Taipei undergoing a series of training sessions focused on national security, La Nacion reported on Friday, quoting unnamed sources. The Costa Rican government has not confirmed the report. The Chinese embassy in Costa Rica protested the news, saying in a statement issued the same
Taiwan’s Liu Ming-i, right, who also goes by the name Ray Liu, poses with a Chinese Taipei flag after winning the gold medal in the men’s physique 170cm competition at the International Fitness and Bodybuilding Federation Asian Championship in Ajman, United Arab Emirates, yesterday.
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
RSS