The Cabinet yesterday approved an amendment to the Tobacco and Alcohol Tax Act (菸酒稅法) that, if passed by the legislature, would lead to a significant decrease in the tax on distilled liquor.
The move is seen as an attempt to push down the retail price of red-label rice wine, also known as salted rice wine, a commonly used cooking ingredient.
Should the amendment pass, the tax imposed on the wine would be cut from NT$111 to NT$30 per 600mL bottle.
An official, who was not authorized to speak publicly, estimated that the retail price for the wine per 600mL bottle might drop from NT$180 to as low as NT$60 following the tax cut.
Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) was quoted by Executive Yuan Spokesman Su Jun-pin (蘇俊賓) as saying at a press conference that the practice would help reduce incentives for making illicit alcohol and ensure public heath.
Under the amendment, the alcohol tax will depend on the percentage of alcohol in the product, replacing the current “volume-based tax” imposed on distilled alcohol.
To comply with the national treatment principle of the WTO, the amendment will apply to domestic and imported distilled alcohol.
Rice wine was considered “hard liquor” — in the same category as products like brandy and whisky — in 1998 during negotiations over Taiwan’s entry into the WTO. Taiwan failed to get the US to agree to classify it as “cooking wine” for sales tax purposes.
Taxes on rice wine have been ratcheted up each year since 1998, resulting in a dramatic drop in rice wine sales.
Since 2002, the year Taiwan entered the WTO, the average yearly sales of legally produced rice wine fell to 7.5 million, 3.6 percent of the average yearly sales of 210 million between 1994 and 1996, Su said.
Taipei and New Taipei City government officials are aiming to have the first phase of the Wanhua-Jungho-Shulin Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line completed and opened by 2027, following the arrival of the first train set yesterday. The 22km-long Light Green Line would connect four densely populated districts in Taipei and New Taipei City: Wanhua (萬華), Jhonghe (中和), Tucheng (土城) and Shulin (樹林). The first phase of the project would connect Wanhua and Jhonghe districts, with Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and Chukuang (莒光) being the terminal stations. The two municipalities jointly hosted a ceremony for the first train to be used
MILITARY AID: Taiwan has received a first batch of US long-range tactical missiles ahead of schedule, with a second shipment expected to be delivered by 2026 The US’ early delivery of long-range tactical ballistic missiles to Taiwan last month carries political and strategic significance, a military source said yesterday. According to the Ministry of National Defense’s budget report, the batch of military hardware from the US, including 11 sets of M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and 64 MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems, had been scheduled to be delivered to Taiwan between the end of this year and the beginning of next year. However, the first batch arrived last month, earlier than scheduled, with the second batch —18 sets of HIMARS, 20 MGM-140 missiles and 864 M30
Representative to the US Alexander Yui delivered a letter from the government to US president-elect Donald Trump during a meeting with a former Trump administration official, CNN reported yesterday. Yui on Thursday met with former US national security adviser Robert O’Brien over a private lunch in Salt Lake City, Utah, with US Representative Chris Stewart, the Web site of the US cable news channel reported, citing three sources familiar with the matter. “During that lunch the letter was passed along, and then shared with Trump, two of the sources said,” CNN said. O’Brien declined to comment on the lunch, as did the Taipei
A woman who allegedly attacked a high-school student with a utility knife, injuring his face, on a Taipei metro train late on Friday has been transferred to prosecutors, police said yesterday. The incident occurred near MRT Xinpu Station at about 10:17pm on a Bannan Line train headed toward Dingpu, New Taipei City police said. Before police arrived at the station to arrest the suspect, a woman surnamed Wang (王) who is in her early 40s, she had already been subdued by four male passengers, one of whom was an off-duty Taipei police officer, police said. The student, 17, who sustained a cut about
RSS