1.May 2008 to March 2009: Pensions for socially and economically disadvantaged people in terms of funds and a health insurance premium subsidy, as well as free lunches for disadvantaged students. NT$16.71 billion
2.2008 to 2012: Subsidies for the purchase of energy-saving household appliances, such as LED light bulbs, solar heat collectors and solar water heaters, as well as to encourage drivers to replace petroleum-driven vehicles with vehicles powered by liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) or rechargeable electric batteries. NT$11.117 billion
3.Jan. 2008 to Dec. 2008: Provide funding to enterprises that can provide temporary job opportunities, hire the long-term unemployed or provide training for their employees. NT$483 million
4.Jan. 2008 to Sept. 2010: To raise the government’s preferential mortgage interest subsidy rate from 0.125 percent to 0.7 percent and to expand the quota allocation of loans to help young people buy their own homes and to provide the young and disadvantaged with a rent allowance. NT$4.45 billion
5.Aug. 2008 to Dec. 2008: To facilitate the construction of state infrastructure projects and to press local governments to speed up construction projects covered by a NT$58.3 billion budget designed to expand domestic demand. NT$58.3 billion
6.Jan. 2008 to Dec. 2010: Manufacturing, traditional industries and related technical industries to be granted a five-year tax exemption from enterprise income tax on domestic investments between last month and the end of next year. NT$37.62 billion
7.Six months from approval: To request the legislature review the Securities Transaction Tax Act (證券交易稅條例) and cut the 0.3 percent tax rate by half for six months to boost the stock market. Expecting to start in Oct: To open the capital markets to Chinese qualified domestic institutional investors (QDII) that would see an inflow of a maximum of US$1.125 billion in Chinese capital, planned to begin next month. NT$30 billion
8.2008 to Dec. 2011: To raise the percentage of the guaranty the government offers to small and medium-sized enterprises to facilitate bank loans and to implement a microfinance loan program to assist the middle-aged and women to start small businesses. NT$20.67 billion
9.Aug. 2008 to Dec. 2012: To help enterprises to explore newly developing markets in the Middle East, Brazil, Russia and China. NT$1.5 billion
10.To advance tax reform, including raising standard deductions and special deductions on income, disability and school tuition fees, as well as discussing reductions in enterprise income tax, inheritance tax and gift tax.
Total amount: NT$180.9 billion
The Taipei MRT is open all night tonight following New Year’s Eve festivities, and is offering free rides from nearby Green Line stations. Taipei’s 2025 New Year’s Eve celebrations kick off at Taipei City Hall Square tonight, with performances from the boy band Energy, the South Korean girl group Apink, and singers Gigi Leung (梁詠琪) and Faith Yang (楊乃文). Taipei 101’s annual New Year’s firework display follows at midnight, themed around Taiwan’s Premier12 baseball championship. Estimates say there will be about 200,000 people in attendance, which is more than usual as this year’s celebrations overlap with A-mei’s (張惠妹) concert at Taipei Dome. There are
LOOKING FOR WHEELS: The military is seeking 8x8 single-chassis vehicles to test the new missile and potentially replace the nation’s existing launch vehicles, the source said Taiwan is developing a hypersonic missile based on the Ching Tien (擎天) supersonic cruise missile, and a Czech-made truck has been tentatively selected as its launch vehicle, a source said yesterday. The Ching Tien, formerly known as Yun Feng (雲峰, “Cloud Peak”), is a domestically developed missile with a range of 1,200km to 2,000km being deployed in casemate-type positions as of last month, an official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity. The hypersonic missile to be derived from the Ching Tien would feature improved range and a mobile launch platform, while the latter would most likely be a 12x12 single chassis
UP AND DOWN: The route would include a 16.4km underground section from Zuoying to Fongshan and a 9.5km elevated part from Fongshan to Pingtung Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) yesterday confirmed a project to extend the high-speed rail (HSR) to Pingtung County through Kaohsiung. Cho made the announcement at a ceremony commemorating the completion of a dome at Kaohsiung Main Station. The Ministry of Transportation and Communications approved the HSR expansion in 2019 using a route that branches off a line from Zuoying Station in Kaohsiung’s Zuoying District (左營). The project was ultimately delayed due to a lack of support for the route. The Zuoying route would have trains stop at the Zuoying Station and return to a junction before traveling southward to Pingtung County’s Lioukuaicuo Township (六塊厝).
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday vowed to investigate claims made in a YouTube video about China’s efforts to politically influence young Taiwanese and encourage them to apply for Chinese ID cards. The council’s comments follow Saturday’s release of a video by Taiwanese rapper Chen Po-yuan (陳柏源) and YouTuber “Pa Chiung (八炯)” on China’s “united front” tactics. It is the second video on the subject the pair have released this month. In the video, Chen visits the Taiwan Youth Entrepreneurship Park in Quanzhou in China’s Fujian Province and the Strait Herald news platform in Xiamen, China. The Strait Herald — owned by newspaper
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