The health and welfare surcharge on tobacco products will be increased from NT$10 per pack to NT$20 per pack starting today.
Chao Kun-yu (趙坤郁), director of the Bureau of Health Promotion said retail stores are allowed to sell off their existing cigarette stocks without asking customers to pay the extra NT$10 surcharge.
The surcharge increase will raise the average per-pack price for cigarettes to between NT$55 and NT$70, depending on the brand.
PHOTO: LIN MING-HUNG, TAIPEI
According to an estimate by Chao, the new measure is expected to boost annual revenues from the health and welfare surcharge from NT$20 billion (US$615 million) to between NT$32 billion and NT$36 billion.
Chao said the DOH would use 4 percent, or NT$1.39 billion, of the revenues from the surcharge as subsidies to help 470,000 people obtain national health insurance. The Bureau of National Health Insurance will receive 70 percent of the surcharge revenues and will spend NT$10 billion to meet its financial shortfall, and the rest in various areas such as cancer prevention, raising the standards of medical services and treatment of rare diseases.
Meanwhile, the “high-season” summer rates policy adopted by the Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) will also take effect starting today.
On average, a typical local family uses around 421 kwh per month during the summer, which translates to an additional NT$102 in electricity bills per month.
According to the state-owned company, the new policy is aimed at encouraging the public to conserve energy during the four months between this month and September.
Under the new rates, households using between 110 kilowatt hours (kwh) and 330kwh per month will be charged at NT$3.02 per kwh (up from NT$2.68 in other seasons). They will be charged NT$4.05 per kwh (up from NT$3.27 in other seasons) if electricity usage is between 331kwh and 500kwh per month.
Those using between 501kwh and 700kwh per month will be charged at NT$4.51 per kwh (up from NT$3.55), while any usage higher than 701kwh per month will be charged by NT$5.1 per kwh (up from NT$3.97).
But consumers that use less than 110kwh per month will still pay NT$2.1 per kwh.
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) and Chunghwa Telecom yesterday confirmed that an international undersea cable near Keelung Harbor had been cut by a Chinese ship, the Shunxin-39, a freighter registered in Cameroon. Chunghwa Telecom said the cable had its own backup equipment, and the incident would not affect telecommunications within Taiwan. The CGA said it dispatched a ship under its first fleet after receiving word of the incident and located the Shunxin-39 7 nautical miles (13km) north of Yehliu (野柳) at about 4:40pm on Friday. The CGA demanded that the Shunxin-39 return to seas closer to Keelung Harbor for investigation over the
National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology (NKUST) yesterday promised it would increase oversight of use of Chinese in course materials, following a social media outcry over instances of simplified Chinese characters being used, including in a final exam. People on Threads wrote that simplified Chinese characters were used on a final exam and in a textbook for a translation course at the university, while the business card of a professor bore the words: “Taiwan Province, China.” Photographs of the exam, the textbook and the business card were posted with the comments. NKUST said that other members of the faculty did not see
An apartment building in New Taipei City’s Sanchong District (三重) collapsed last night after a nearby construction project earlier in the day allegedly caused it to tilt. Shortly after work began at 9am on an ongoing excavation of a construction site on Liuzhang Street (六張街), two neighboring apartment buildings tilted and cracked, leading to exterior tiles peeling off, city officials said. The fire department then dispatched personnel to help evacuate 22 residents from nine households. After the incident, the city government first filled the building at No. 190, which appeared to be more badly affected, with water to stabilize the
EARTHQUAKE: Taipei and New Taipei City accused a construction company of ignoring the Circular MRT’s original design, causing sections to shift by up to 92cm The Taipei and New Taipei City governments yesterday said they would seek NT$1.93 billion (US$58.6 million) in compensation from the company responsible for building the Circular MRT Line, following damage sustained during an earthquake in April last year that had shuttered a section for months. BES Engineering Corp, a listed company under Core Pacific Group, was accused of ignoring the original design when constructing the MRT line, resulting in negative shear strength resistance and causing sections of the rail line between Jhonghe (中和) and Banciao (板橋) districts to shift by up to 92cm during the April 3 earthquake. The pot bearings on
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