The Cabinet yesterday approved a draft amendment to the Commodity Tax Act (貨物稅條例) to extend the tax reduction period for people who trade in heavy-duty diesel vehicles for newer models, the Ministry of Finance said in a statement.
The amendment would extend the period to 2026, it said.
Buyers of diesel buses and trucks can receive a NT$400,000 tax break until the end of this year under the act.
Photo courtesy of the Executive Yuan
The incentive applies to owners of diesel vehicles manufactured before Sept. 30, 2006, or those made before Dec. 31, 2006, and had received an emissions conformity certificate from the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA).
The extension of the tax break is intended to help reduce air pollution and to contribute to Taiwan’s goal to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050, the ministry said.
About 78,000 heavy-duty diesel vehicles remain in use that meet the EPA’s older level 1 to level 3 emissions standards, it said, adding that they do not meet one of the three higher levels, the tightest being level 6.
About 39,500 heavy-duty diesel vehicles had been phased out by the end of October through the government’s tax reduction incentive, the ministry said.
Deputy Minister of Finance Chuang Tsui-yun (莊翠雲) said the draft amendment for a four-year extension was drawn up to encourage the disuse of the remaining diesel buses and trucks.
The proposed amendment is to be reviewed by the legislature before being put to a vote.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
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Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching