Love, laughter and lonely clouds have inspired poets the world over. Now Taiwan wants people to find lyrical inspiration in a subject that is also close to the heart — taxes.
The Ministry of Finance has launched a competition for Taiwanese to write verse about initiatives aimed at making it easier to file taxes. Topics include such gems as the uniform invoice redemption app, the Taxpayer Rights Protection Act (納稅者權利保護法) and tax refunds on energy-saving appliances and the replacement of used vehicles.
The competition has inspired budding bards — and humorists — to channel the likes of William Carlos Williams on Twitter.
To be sure, taxes have inspired plenty of lyrics in the past.
“The tax man’s taken all my dough, and left me in my stately home,” the Kinks sang in Sunny Afternoon.
Thomas Jefferson also was not a fan, according to the hit musical Hamilton: “Look, when Britain taxed our tea, we got frisky. Imagine what gon’ happen when you try to tax our whisky.”
The UK’s former poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy penned 22 Reasons for the Bedroom Tax in 2013.
Taiwan said the poems must be no more than 10 lines in length and must be submitted in Chinese and English. Only Taiwanese citizens can enter, and the winner is to be announced at the end of August, receiving NT$18,000 in cash.
However, a tax collector will be coming to take back some of that money — it must be declared as income when filing next year.
One reason for the competition could be Taiwan’s relatively flat tax revenues since 2018, even as the economy boomed from surging global demand for semiconductors.
Tax revenue was equal to 12.1 percent of Taiwan’s GDP in 2020, ministry data showed.
That is significantly lower than most other developed economies, and less than the global average of 14.9 percent, World Bank data showed.
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday said that a surge in respiratory illnesses in China has been caused by at least seven types of pathogens, and small children, elderly people and immunocompromised people should temporarily avoid unnecessary visits to China. The recent outbreak of respiratory illnesses in China is mainly in the north and among children, CDC Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said on Monday. Data released by the Chinese National Health Commission on Sunday showed that among children aged one to four, the main pathogens were influenza viruses and rhinoviruses, while among children aged five to 14, the main pathogens
A new poll of Taiwanese voters found the top opposition candidate for president jumping past the ruling party’s hopeful into the lead position ahead of January’s election — the latest twist in a drama-filled race. Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) presidential candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) had an approval rating of 31.9 percent versus 29.2 percent for the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) presidential candidate Vice President William Lai (賴清德), the poll released yesterday by the Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation showed. The Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) presidential candidate, New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜), ranked third with 23.6 percent, according to the survey conducted
A New Taipei City hotpot restaurant could be fined after a rat dropped from the ceiling and landed on a customer’s plate last week, the New Taipei City Department of Health said yesterday after conducting an inspection. A woman recently posted on the “I am a Banciao resident” (我是板橋人) social media group saying that she had been eating with a friend at Chien Tu Shabu Shabu Hotpot Restaurant’s Shuangshi B branch in Banciao District (板橋). “While still eating, a big rat suddenly dropped down from the ceiling, landing on a plate next to a hotpot,” she said. “Later on, a member of
Actress Hu Ling (胡伶) on Saturday became the first Chinese movie star to walk the red carpet of the Golden Horse Awards since 2019, when China boycotted Taiwan’s biggest awards show over political tensions. Beijing banned its entertainers from joining the awards, dubbed the Chinese-language Oscars, after documentary director Fu Yu (傅榆) voiced support for Taiwan’s formal independence in an acceptance speech in 2018. There were no films from China in the 2019 nomination list and several Hong Kong movies dropped out that year, while several big commercial productions were conspicuously absent at both the 2020 and 2021 awards. However, Hu, nominated for
RSS