Minister of Finance Lee Sush-der (李述德), who emerged from the Cabinet reshuffle unscathed, pledged yesterday to press on with the task of reining in government debt and overhauling the taxation system, an effort that has left the state coffers strapped for cash.
A veteran tax official, Lee said the ministry under his stewardship remains committed to more equitable distribution of the nation’s wealth and efficient management of public properties.
“The ministry will press on with financial stabilizing and tax reform plans but will adjust the pace and magnitude a bit following the Cabinet reshuffle,” Lee said by telephone.
The 58-year-old, who earned a bachelor’s degree in banking and insurance and a master’s degree in business administration, joined the finance ministry in 1980 where he stayed for 18 years.
Hardworking, moderate and pragmatic, he was tapped in 1998 by then-Taipei mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to steer the capital’s finance department. Dubbed “Ma’s man,” he was appointed to the helm of the finance ministry in May last year and survived the recent Cabinet reshuffle.
Lee cut inheritance and income taxes for individuals and companies to fulfill Ma’s campaign promise to improve trade ties with China and facilitate capital return. Meanwhile, he expanded government debt by NT$220 billion (US$6.72 billion) to fund stimulus measures.
“The tax cuts may prove favorable to the national chest after the economy picks up and private demand grows again,” Lee said.
Norman Yin (殷乃平), a money and banking professor at National Chengchih University, warned the ministry to avoid waste and to deal with widening income gaps otherwise the issues will come back to haunt the administration.
“It is time the finance ministry has come up with long-term solutions to rising government debt, which is approaching the legal ceiling,” Yin said. “The fact that the debt accumulated over a long time is no excuse for further delay.”
Yin urged the ministry to stand firm and revamp the taxation system after several academics quit the Cabinet’s tax reform panel in protest at a perceived pro-business bias.
Lee said he would push for energy and environment taxes at less drastic rates even though the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the business community have opposed this saying green tax reform is part of a financial stabilizing plan that may generate income or save expenditure of up to NT$1 trillion over eight years.
MULTIFACETED: A task force has analyzed possible scenarios and created responses to assist domestic industries in dealing with US tariffs, the economics minister said The Executive Yuan is tomorrow to announce countermeasures to US President Donald Trump’s planned reciprocal tariffs, although the details of the plan would not be made public until Monday next week, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. The Cabinet established an economic and trade task force in November last year to deal with US trade and tariff related issues, Kuo told reporters outside the legislature in Taipei. The task force has been analyzing and evaluating all kinds of scenarios to identify suitable responses and determine how best to assist domestic industries in managing the effects of Trump’s tariffs, he
TIGHT-LIPPED: UMC said it had no merger plans at the moment, after Nikkei Asia reported that the firm and GlobalFoundries were considering restarting merger talks United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), the world’s No. 4 contract chipmaker, yesterday launched a new US$5 billion 12-inch chip factory in Singapore as part of its latest effort to diversify its manufacturing footprint amid growing geopolitical risks. The new factory, adjacent to UMC’s existing Singapore fab in the Pasir Res Wafer Fab Park, is scheduled to enter volume production next year, utilizing mature 22-nanometer and 28-nanometer process technologies, UMC said in a statement. The company plans to invest US$5 billion during the first phase of the new fab, which would have an installed capacity of 30,000 12-inch wafers per month, it said. The
Taiwan’s official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) last month rose 0.2 percentage points to 54.2, in a second consecutive month of expansion, thanks to front-loading demand intended to avoid potential US tariff hikes, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. While short-term demand appeared robust, uncertainties rose due to US President Donald Trump’s unpredictable trade policy, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s economy this year would be characterized by high-level fluctuations and the volatility would be wilder than most expect, Lien said Demand for electronics, particularly semiconductors, continues to benefit from US technology giants’ effort
‘SWASTICAR’: Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close association with Donald Trump has prompted opponents to brand him a ‘Nazi’ and resulted in a dramatic drop in sales Demonstrators descended on Tesla Inc dealerships across the US, and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top adviser to US President Donald Trump. Waving signs with messages such as “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as terrorism. Hundreds rallied on Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in Manhattan. Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his
RSS