Issues of housing justice and steep real-estate prices have led to dissatisfaction among young voters, who are turning away from the two major parties, the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) said yesterday, blaming unreasonably high housing taxes collected by local governments.
“The ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government has taken up measures to bring down property prices and has promoted fairness and housing justice for years, but housing prices in cities are still climbing,” TSU Chairman Liu Yi-te (劉一德) told a news conference at the party’s office in Taipei.
Liu said these measures include heavy fines and other punishments to combat property speculation by investors, as well as a registration requirement for the actual price of a transaction to prevent the recording of inflated prices and deter owners and agents from taking advantage of the opaque process, he said.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
In recent years, one main reason for the surging prices is rezoning by local governments, opening plots for farming and industrial use, and for real-estate development, as the land can increase in assessed value by 10 times or more overnight, while local governments make huge financial gains by collecting the Land Value Increment Tax, which could be as much as 10 to 20 percent, Liu said.
This has been a major source of tax revenue for Taiwan’s six special municipalities in recent years and is the main driver of high real-estate prices, he said.
High property prices cause the younger generation to choose not to marry or raise a family, creating a declining birthrate, resulting in sectors of “dissatisfied, frustrated” young voters who are turning against the DPP and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), he said.
To drive down prices and enact fairer policies, former TSU legislator Chou Ni-an (周倪安) provided several recommendations, including for the government to build more social housing and subsidize housing for younger people
On taxes from land rezoning, TSU legislator-at-large candidate Chang Teng-kai (張登凱) said that 30 percent of these tax revenues should be allocated specifically toward achieving housing justice, such as the provision of financial assistance to younger people for purchasing or renting a home, and housing subsidies for working-class people and senior citizens.
Chang said that taxes collected by local governments should be put into a dedicated “public housing assistance and saving fund” to help younger generations, laborers and senior citizens in subsidizing their rent or first-time home, or go into building social housing units.
TSU social movement department head Ou Yang Jui-lien (歐陽瑞蓮) said that the government could learn from Singapore in providing fair and low-cost housing for all of society.
Singapore has constructed extensive social housing for its citizens, and the monthly fees are not based on the land values of a particular city section, but rather is means tested in which working-class households would pay in accordance with their lower monthly income, while those with a higher monthly salary would pay a higher rate, she said.
“China is preparing to invade Taiwan,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an exclusive interview with British media channel Sky News for a special report titled, “Is Taiwan ready for a Chinese invasion?” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today in a statement. The 25-minute-long special report by Helen Ann-Smith released yesterday saw Sky News travel to Penghu, Taoyuan and Taipei to discuss the possibility of a Chinese invasion and how Taiwan is preparing for an attack. The film observed emergency response drills, interviewed baseball fans at the Taipei Dome on their views of US President
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a "tsunami watch" alert after a magnitude 8.7 earthquake struck off the Kamchatka Peninsula in northeastern Russia earlier in the morning. The quake struck off the east coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula at 7:25am (Taiwan time) at a depth of about 19km, the CWA said, citing figures from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. The CWA's Seismological Center said preliminary assessments indicate that a tsunami could reach Taiwan's coastal areas by 1:18pm today. The CWA urged residents along the coast to stay alert and take necessary precautions as waves as high as 1m could hit the southeastern
The National Museum of Taiwan Literature is next month to hold an exhibition in Osaka, Japan, showcasing the rich and unique history of Taiwanese folklore and literature. The exhibition, which is to run from Aug. 10 to Aug. 20 at the city’s Central Public Hall, is part of the “We Taiwan” at Expo 2025 series, highlighting Taiwan’s cultural ties with the international community, National Museum of Taiwan Literature director Chen Ying-fang (陳瑩芳) said. Folklore and literature, among Taiwan’s richest cultural heritages, naturally deserve a central place in the global dialogue, Chen said. Taiwan’s folklore would be immediately apparent at the entrance of the
ECONOMIC BENEFITS: The imports from Belize would replace those from Honduras, whose shrimp exports have dropped 67 percent since cutting ties in 2023 Maintaining ties with Taiwan has economic benefits, Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials said yesterday, citing the approval of frozen whiteleg shrimp imports from Belize by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as an example. The FDA on Wednesday approved the tariff-free imports from Belize after the whiteleg shrimp passed the Systematic Inspection of Imported Food, which would continue to boost mutual trade, the ministry said. Taiwan’s annual consumption of whiteleg shrimps stands at 30,000 tonnes, far exceeding domestic production, the ministry said. Taiwan used to fill the gap by importing shrimps from Honduras, but purchases slumped after Tegucigalpa severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan