The Cabinet’s tax reform committee reached a preliminary consensus yesterday on asking government agencies to explore non-tax measures to boost energy conservation and cut greenhouse gas emissions before seeking to introduce a green tax.
Minister of Finance Lee Sush-der (李述德) held a press conference after business representatives raised concerns about the proposed tax reform.
The committee agreed in June to impose an incremental energy and environment levy by integrating 13 existing taxes to honor President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) campaign pledge to make the nation eco-friendly.
Lee said the committee was now not in a better position to guide the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the Council for Economic Planning and Development and the Environmental Protection Administration in exploring non-tax measures before invoking the tax reform.
Government agencies have been given a month to turn over their findings to the committee.
Those agencies could also encourage companies to upgrade their equipment and manufacturing process or adopt other measures to cut carbon emissions, Lee said.
“When non-tax measures prove insufficient, the government could consider imposing a tax,” Lee said. “The committee, created to review the taxation system, cannot assume responsibility for all policymaking.”
The minister said he was surprised by the committee’s green tax plan, which would generate more than NT$30 billion (US$9.2 million) in tax revenues in the first year of its institution. The amount is expected to exceed NT$800 billion in the 10th year, after which the tax rate would remain flat, the reform proposal said.
The government intends to use the revenue to cover losses arising from tax cuts on glass, rubber tires, drinks and electric appliances, as well as abolishing entertainment and postage taxes. The government has also mulled subsidizing public transportation and energy conservation research and development.
The business community remained skeptical, however.
Preston Chen (陳武雄), chairman of the Chinese National Federation of Industries (CNFI, 工業總會), said the government should think twice about the green tax, as it could hurt industries.
Chen, also a reform committee member, said China Steel Corp (中鋼), the nation’s largest steel maker, would have to pay more than NT$40 billion in environment taxes annually after the tax reform comes into force.
Chen said the government should draw up supporting measures before pursuing the tax reform.
State-run CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) voiced worries it could bear the brunt of the tax reform, which proposes imposing an energy and environment tax of NT$10 on each liter of gasoline in the first year, with the rate increasing to NT$28.65 after 10 years.
Super Typhoon Kong-rey is the largest cyclone to impact Taiwan in 27 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. Kong-rey’s radius of maximum wind (RMW) — the distance between the center of a cyclone and its band of strongest winds — has expanded to 320km, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. The last time a typhoon of comparable strength with an RMW larger than 300km made landfall in Taiwan was Typhoon Herb in 1996, he said. Herb made landfall between Keelung and Suao (蘇澳) in Yilan County with an RMW of 350km, Chang said. The weather station in Alishan (阿里山) recorded 1.09m of
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The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday at 5:30pm issued a sea warning for Typhoon Kong-rey as the storm drew closer to the east coast. As of 8pm yesterday, the storm was 670km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and traveling northwest at 12kph to 16kph. It was packing maximum sustained winds of 162kph and gusts of up to 198kph, the CWA said. A land warning might be issued this morning for the storm, which is expected to have the strongest impact on Taiwan from tonight to early Friday morning, the agency said. Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) and Green Island (綠島) canceled classes and work
KONG-REY: A woman was killed in a vehicle hit by a tree, while 205 people were injured as the storm moved across the nation and entered the Taiwan Strait Typhoon Kong-rey slammed into Taiwan yesterday as one of the biggest storms to hit the nation in decades, whipping up 10m waves, triggering floods and claiming at least one life. Kong-rey made landfall in Taitung County’s Chenggong Township (成功) at 1:40pm, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The typhoon — the first in Taiwan’s history to make landfall after mid-October — was moving north-northwest at 21kph when it hit land, CWA data showed. The fast-moving storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 184kph, with gusts of up to 227kph, CWA data showed. It was the same strength as Typhoon Gaemi, which was the most
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