Outgoing Minister of Finance Ho Chih-chin (
"Having served the country is the biggest source of pride in my life," Ho told finance officials at a farewell party at the ministry yesterday.
Expressing his gratitude to his subordinates at the ministry, Ho said that he was proud to have played a part in the ministry's achievements in striking a balance between the government's revenue and expenditure.
After years of deficits, the central government had a NT$16.6 billion (US$540 million) surplus in 2006 and a NT$68 billion surplus last year under his 20-month tenure, said Ho, who had given up his US citizenship before taking the post.
After taking some rest, Ho said, he may choose to resume his teaching job at National Taiwan University.
Acting finance minister Lee Ruey-tsang (
"It will be very difficult for taxpayers to evade taxes once the ministry's new taxation system has been fully implemented," he said.
The new system, which had been facilitated under Ho's leadership, will enhance efficiency in tracking earnings for taxation, Lee said.
Meanwhile, Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (
Chang said he had rejected several previous resignation letters Ho had tendered for various reasons, but approved the latest one because he agreed with Ho that he had to take responsibility for a scuffle that broke out at Democratic Progressive Party presidential candidate Frank Hsieh's (謝長廷) campaign headquarters on Wednesday.
Chang made the remarks in response to a report in the Chinese-language China Times that the premier had rebuked Ho immediately after the incident, prompting Ho to resign the next day.
Giving in to pressure from four Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers, Ho had accompanied the lawmakers on a visit to Hsieh's campaign headquarters in Taipei.
The lawmakers visited the campaign office, located in a building belonging to First Financial Holding Co (
The legislators' intrusion triggered strong displeasure among Hsieh's supporters, who considered the move provocative. Physical clashes broke out when the supporters tried to prevent the lawmakers from leaving the building under police escort.
TRADE WAR: Tariffs should also apply to any goods that pass through the new Beijing-funded port in Chancay, Peru, an adviser to US president-elect Donald Trump said A veteran adviser to US president-elect Donald Trump is proposing that the 60 percent tariffs that Trump vowed to impose on Chinese goods also apply to goods from any country that pass through a new port that Beijing has built in Peru. The duties should apply to goods from China or countries in South America that pass through the new deep-water port Chancay, a town 60km north of Lima, said Mauricio Claver-Carone, an adviser to the Trump transition team who served as senior director for the western hemisphere on the White House National Security Council in his first administration. “Any product going
TECH SECURITY: The deal assures that ‘some of the most sought-after technology on the planet’ returns to the US, US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said The administration of US President Joe Biden finalized its CHIPS Act incentive awards for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), marking a major milestone for a program meant to bring semiconductor production back to US soil. TSMC would get US$6.6 billion in grants as part of the contract, the US Department of Commerce said in a statement yesterday. Though the amount was disclosed earlier this year as part of a preliminary agreement, the deal is now legally binding — making it the first major CHIPS Act award to reach this stage. The chipmaker, which is also taking up to US$5 billion
High above the sparkling surface of the Athens coastline, the cranes for building the 50-floor luxury tower centerpiece of Greece’s future “smart city” look out over the Saronic Gulf. At their feet, construction machinery stirs up dust. Its backers say the 8 billion euro (US$8.43 billion) project financed by private funds is a symbol of Greece’s renaissance after the years of financial stagnation that saw investors flee the country. However, critics see it more as a future “ghetto for the rich.” It is hard to imagine that 10km from the Acropolis, a new city “three times the size of Monaco”
STRUGGLING BUSINESS: South Korea’s biggest company and semiconductor manufacturer’s buyback fuels concerns that it could be missing out on the AI boom Samsung Electronics Co plans to buy back about 10 trillion won (US$7.2 billion) of its own stock over the next year, putting in motion one of the larger shareholder return programs in its history. South Korea’s biggest company would repurchase the stock in stages over the coming 12 months, it said in a regulatory filing on Friday. As a first step, it would buy back about 3 trillion won of paper starting today up until February next year, all of which it would cancel. The board would deliberate on how best to effect the remaining 7 trillion won of buybacks. The move
RSS