Several new policies took effect on the first day of the year, ranging from labor rules to tax schemes and food safety.
Starting yesterday, workers can be granted a compensatory holiday if their routine holidays during the week happen to be national holidays.
Meanwhile, the labor insurance rate rose from 9.5 percent to 10 percent, affecting more than 10 million workers.
On average, the premium each worker has to pay per month is to increase by NT$19 to NT$44.
Employers across the nation are to collectively increase copayments by NT$8.27 billion (US$260.95 million).
Consequently, labor insurance revenue is set to increase by NT$15 billion.
Currently, the monthly premium for labor insurance is jointly paid by workers (20 percent), employers (70 percent) and the government (10 percent).
Employment rules requiring the fulfillment of job responsibilities can no longer be applied to people working in beauty salons, advertising agencies and 12 other job categories in which workers are not able to leave the workplace until they complete the day’s work.
According to the Ministry of Labor, workers in these 14 categories must adhere to the eight-hour schedule defined by the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法).
Approximately 70,000 workers are estimated to be affected by the new policy.
With tax reforms to enter the second phase this year, people with net annual income exceeding NT$10 million will have to pay more tax, with the rate increasing from 40 percent to 45 percent. The new policy applies to more than 9,000 households.
In addition, married couples can choose to file taxes on non-salary income separately and the total amount of deductibles for personal income tax is to be raised from NT$11,000 to NT$22,000.
To enhance food safety, the nation is set to implement a good manufacturing practice (GMP) system by which food firms must certify all of the products used in the manufacturing process to qualify as a GMP manufacturer. They must also register the names of their suppliers.
Also starting this year, supermarkets must place all alcoholic beverages in a specific section. Advertisements for alcohol must also include warnings such as: “Don’t drink and drive.”
The amount of cash that travelers entering or leaving Taiwan can carry has been raised from NT$60,000 to NT$100,000.
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
GEOPOLITICAL CONCERNS: Foreign companies such as Nissan, Volkswagen and Konica Minolta have pulled back their operations in China this year Foreign companies pulled more money from China last quarter, a sign that some investors are still pessimistic even as Beijing rolls out stimulus measures aimed at stabilizing growth. China’s direct investment liabilities in its balance of payments dropped US$8.1 billion in the third quarter, data released by the Chinese State Administration of Foreign Exchange showed on Friday. The gauge, which measures foreign direct investment (FDI) in China, was down almost US$13 billion for the first nine months of the year. Foreign investment into China has slumped in the past three years after hitting a record in 2021, a casualty of geopolitical tensions,
‘SOMETHING SPECIAL’: Donald Trump vowed to reward his supporters, while President William Lai said he was confident the Taiwan-US partnership would continue Donald Trump was elected the 47th president of the US early yesterday morning, an extraordinary comeback for a former president who was convicted of felony charges and survived two assassination attempts. With a win in Wisconsin, Trump cleared the 270 electoral votes needed to clinch the presidency. As of press time last night, The Associated Press had Trump on 277 electoral college votes to 224 for US Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic Party’s nominee, with Alaska, Arizona, Maine, Michigan and Nevada yet to finalize results. He had 71,289,216 votes nationwide, or 51 percent, while Harris had 66,360,324 (47.5 percent). “We’ve been through so
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