The National Women’s League still needs to provide an account of how it used proceeds from a “military benefits tax,” the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday.
“It needs to produce an account of how the military benefits tax proceeds were used, along with declaring any relationship with league assets,” Civil Affairs Department director Lin Ching-chi (林清淇) said.
The tax on imported goods from 1955 to 1989, described by the league as a kind of “patriotic donation,” provided most of its early funding, drawing criticism that the league profited from ties to the then-Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government.
Chiang Kai-shek’s (蔣介石) wife Soong Mayling (宋美齡) founded the league and headed it for decades.
Following repeated requests, the league on Friday filed a detailed account of its budget, income and assets, while at the same time announcing plans to donate nearly NT$28 billion (US$909 million) of its NT$38.1 billion in outstanding assets to government agencies and charities.
“It should have been providing reports every year and although it has met requirements for this year, it is still unclear what happened to proceeds from the military benefits tax over the years,” Lin said. “The issue is the relationship between its current capital and tax proceeds. If the money is from tax gains, it needs to return it all to the nation.”
“What is important is opening up league finances and sourcing all of its current assets,” New Power Party Legislator Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) said. “It should not use promises of donations as a smokescreen to obscure the core issue.”
ANNOUNCEMENT: People who do not comply with the ban after a spoken warning would be reported to the police, the airport company said on Friday Taoyuan International Airport Corp on Friday announced that riding on vehicles, including scooter-suitcases (also known as “scootcases”), bicycles, scooters and skateboards, is prohibited in the airport’s terminals. Those using such vehicles should manually pull them or place them on luggage trolleys, the company said in a Facebook post. The ban intends to maintain order and protect travelers’ safety, as the airport often sees large crowds of people, it said, adding that it has stepped up publicity for the regulation, and those who do not comply after a spoken warning would be reported to the police. The company yesterday said that
QUIET START: Nearly a week after applications opened, agencies did not announce or promote the program, nor did they explain how it differed from other visitor visas Taiwan has launched a six-month “digital nomad visitor visa” program for foreign nationals from its list of visa-exempt countries who meet financial eligibility criteria and provide proof of work contracts. To apply, foreign nationals must either provide proof that they have obtained a digital nomad visa issued by another country or demonstrate earnings based on age brackets, the Bureau of Consular Affairs said. Applicants aged 20 to 29 must show they earned an annual salary of at least US$20,000 or its equivalent in one of the past two years, while those aged 30 or older must provide proof they earned US$40,000 in
SERIOUS ALLEGATIONS: The suspects formed spy networks and paramilitary groups to kill government officials during a possible Chinese invasion, prosecutors said Prosecutors have indicted seven retired military officers, members of the Rehabilitation Alliance Party, for allegedly obtaining funds from China, and forming paramilitary groups and assassination squads in Taiwan to collaborate with Chinese troops in a possible war. The suspects contravened the National Security Act (國家安全法) by taking photos and drawing maps of key radar stations, missile installations and the American Institute in Taiwan’s headquarters in Taipei, prosecutors said. They allegedly prepared to collaborate with China during a possible invasion of Taiwan, prosecutors said. Retired military officer Chu Hung-i (屈宏義), 62, a Republic of China Army Academy graduate, went to China
UNITY MESSAGE: Rather than focusing on what Trump said on the campaign trail about Taiwan, Taipei should be willing to engage with the US, Pompeo said Taiwan plays a key role in Washington’s model of deterrence against China, former US secretary of state Mike Pompeo said in a speech in Taipei yesterday. During US president-elect Donald Trump’s first term, “we had developed what we believe was a pretty effective model of deterrence against adversaries who wanted to undermine the set of rules and values that the people of Taiwan and the people of the US hold dear,” Pompeo said at a forum organized by the Formosa Republican Association. “Succeeding in continuing to build this model will not solely rest at the feet of president Trump and his team,
RSS