The Cabinet yesterday approved an amendment to the Act for the Establishment and Management of Free Ports (自由貿易港區設置管理條例) that would grant foreign companies income tax exemption, in a bid to attract multinational logistics enterprises.
Draft article 29 of the amendment states that a foreign enterprise or its branch registered in the country, which — by itself or entrusting a company in the free port — engages in storage or simple reprocessing and makes delivery of the foreign company’s products to customers abroad shall be exempted from business income tax.
If the products are sold to customers domestically, the company will be taxed business income tax when its domestic sales accounts for less than 10 percent of aggregate sales.
The amendment suggested lowering the minimum number of Aboriginal laborers that companies in free ports are required to hire from 5 percent of total staff to 1 percent.
It stipulated that the government would provide various subsidies to businesses whose Aboriginal laborers made up between 1 percent and 3 percent of its work force.
“The revisions will help remove obstacles impeding multinational companies from investing in the country’s free ports,” said Yin Cheng-peng (尹承蓬), the head of the Department of Navigation and Aviation under the Ministry of Transportation and Communication (MOTC).
Also approved at the Cabinet meeting was a draft bill designed to set up a state-owned company to manage the Taoyuan International Airport Zone, a planned free trade zone near the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport where businesses will enjoy preferential taxes and fewer labor restrictions.
Lee Lung-wen (李龍文), director-general of the MOTC’s Civil Aviation Administration, said that the government would put NT$28 billion (US$829.7 million) into the company that will have a staff of about 462.
Taiwan is stepping up plans to create self-sufficient supply chains for combat drones and increase foreign orders from the US to counter China’s numerical superiority, a defense official said on Saturday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said the nation’s armed forces are in agreement with US Admiral Samuel Paparo’s assessment that Taiwan’s military must be prepared to turn the nation’s waters into a “hellscape” for the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Paparo, the commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, reiterated the concept during a Congressional hearing in Washington on Wednesday. He first coined the term in a security conference last
Prosecutors today declined to say who was questioned regarding alleged forgery on petitions to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators, after Chinese-language media earlier reported that members of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Youth League were brought in for questioning. The Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau confirmed that two people had been questioned, but did not disclose any further information about the ongoing investigation. KMT Youth League members Lee Hsiao-liang (李孝亮) and Liu Szu-yin (劉思吟) — who are leading the effort to recall DPP caucus chief executive Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) and Legislator Wu Pei-yi (吳沛憶) — both posted on Facebook saying: “I
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Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 today amid outcry over his decision to wear a Nazi armband to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case last night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and covering the book with his coat. Lee said today that this is a serious
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