The Hualien County Council on Wednesday rejected a Hualien County Government proposal to continue collecting a special mining tax, citing concerns over the motion’s legality.
During an extraordinary session to review 66 county government proposals, which began on Wednesday and runs until Friday next week, the council rejected a proposal to renew an ordinance to collect a tax on mining operations that was designed to protect tourist attractions.
The ordinance, in effect since 2009, allowed the local government to collect taxes on all mining operations for four years.
The regulations were changed last year to require that the ordinance be renewed yearly.
The council’s rejection stemmed from objections to the tax raised last year by Fu An Mining Co.
The county government’s 2016 version of the ordinance contravened Article 4 of the Act Governing Local Tax Regulations (地方稅法通則), as it raised the tax rate in excess of 30 percent from the original rate, Fu An said.
The 2016 version had a rate of NT$70 (US$2.51) per tonne of mined ore, an increase of NT$60 from the previous ordinance.
The Taipei High Administrative Court ruled in favor of the company and the Supreme Administrative Court in January dismissed an appeal by the Hualien County Tax Bureau.
Council Legal Regulations Office Director Yu Yu-lin (余玉琳) said that the legality and propriety of the Hualien County Government introducing the ordinance at this juncture was questionable.
Fu An filed another administrative suit against the county after the local tax bureau did not issue a refund, Yu said.
Hualien County Tax Bureau Director Lu Yu-chih (呂玉枝) said that it would contest the council’s decision and seek a constitutional interpretation from the Council of Grand Justices.
Hualien County Council Speaker Chang Chun (張峻) said that although the council supports a mining tax, it must be implemented correctly, or it might become a large financial burden for residents if mining companies have to be refunded.
The ordinance’s failure to pass means that the county’s revenue would fall by at least NT$1 billion this year, the county government said.
This would affect funding for policies and destabilize the county’s financial revenue, it said, adding that it was the “darkest day” for Hualien County “since the promulgation of the Local Government Act (地方制度法).”
Hualien County Government Secretary-General Chang Yi-hua (張逸華) said that the goal of the tax was to cover the overheads for environmental protection operations, which mining operations make necessary.
The county government would continue to negotiate with the council in hopes of passing the ordinance, he said.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was sentenced to six months in prison, commutable to a fine, by the New Taipei District Court today for contravening the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法) in a case linked to an alleged draft-dodging scheme. Wang allegedly paid NT$3.6 million (US$114,380) to an illegal group to help him evade mandatory military service through falsified medical documents, prosecutors said. He transferred the funds to Chen Chih-ming (陳志明), the alleged mastermind of a draft-evasion ring, although he lost contact with him as he was already in detention on fraud charges, they said. Chen is accused of helping a
SECURITY: Starlink owner Elon Musk has taken pro-Beijing positions, and allowing pro-China companies to control Taiwan’s critical infrastructure is risky, a legislator said Starlink was reluctant to offer services in Taiwan because of the nation’s extremely high penetration rates in 4G and 5G services, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday. The ministry made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which reviewed amendments to Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法). Article 36 bans foreigners from holding more than 49 percent of shares in public telecommunications networks, while shares foreigners directly and indirectly hold are also capped at 60 percent of the total, unless specified otherwise by law. The amendments, sponsored by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko
The eastern extension of the Taipei MRT Red Line could begin operations as early as late June, the Taipei Department of Rapid Transit Systems said yesterday. Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said it is considering offering one month of free rides on the new section to mark its opening. Construction progress on the 1.4km extension, which is to run from the current terminal Xiangshan Station to a new eastern terminal, Guangci/Fengtian Temple Station, was 90.6 percent complete by the end of last month, the department said in a report to the Taipei City Council's Transportation Committee. While construction began in October 2016 with an
NON-RED SUPPLY: Boosting the nation’s drone industry is becoming increasingly urgent as China’s UAV dominance could become an issue in a crisis, an analyst said Taiwan’s drone exports to Europe grew 41.7-fold from 2024 to last year, with demand from Ukraine’s fight against Russian aggression the most likely driver of growth, a study showed. The Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology (DSET) in a statement on Wednesday said it found that many of Taiwan’s uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) sales were from Poland and the Czech Republic. These countries likely transferred the drones to Ukraine to aid it in its fight against the Russian invasion that started in 2022, it said. Despite the gains, Taiwan is not the dominant drone exporter to these markets, ranking second and fourth
RSS