Chang Chong-hui (張寵慧) last saw her son three decades ago. However, this hasn’t stopped the 58 year-old single mother, who works as a cleaner and can barely read, from being saddled with a bill for his unpaid taxes totaling NT$9.74 million (US$327,000).
Then there is an additional NT$2.5 million fine imposed by the Keelung police for the overdue payment of the balance.
It is unlikely that Chang, who has enlisted the help of borough leaders and a legislator to help fight her cause, could pay the money off even if she wanted to.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
“The only reason that I have three meals today is from working hard,” she said. “I can’t read, I can’t even write my own name. What do they want me to do?”
The National Tax Administration wants her to repay the back taxes owed by her son, who was responsible for a trading company before his death in April 2008.
Divorced from her late husband, the courts appointed Chang the liquidator of her son’s remaining debts, despite having officially renounced her claim to any -remaining assets earlier.
National Tax Administration documents show that the agency asked a local court to appoint Chang as liquidator, as allowed under law.
When she later protested after being served the papers, she was told that she would have to appeal the appointment in court.
Government officials contend that the entire process was followed to the letter of the law. As the taxes were owed by a company, Chang’s assets cannot be touched, tax administration official Huang Hui-ying (黃慧英) said.
Huang added that as long as the appeal process was completed and no remaining company assets have been found, Chang’s notification would be canceled.
In the meantime, this single mother is under the continual stress of having to shuttle back and forth between government agencies and the courts, all in attempt to clear her name.
Under current regulations, government agencies also have the authority to prevent Chang from going abroad for up to five years — although a Ministry of Justice official said that they would not resort to such a measure.
Adding insult to injury, a finding last year confirmed that Chang’s son was only a “figurehead” for the company and did not reap any of its benefits, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Huang Wei-cher (黃偉哲) said speaking in support of the mother.
The “real operators” of the company have already been found, but didn’t even receive a slap on the wrist, Huang said.
“They were only given a suspended sentence and were not even asked to pay back the owed taxes,” the DPP lawmaker said in an account that has been confirmed by tax officials.
Chang’s daughter, who did not wish to be named, added that it was “completely unfair.”
SCENARIOS: A potential conflict with Beijing would not be similar to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and China would target energy and food supplies, a researcher said China is likely to continue using economic and cyberoperations against Taiwan to force it to capitulate without resorting to a military attack, Fox News reported yesterday, citing the outcome of a tabletop exercise. Washington-based think tank the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) earlier this month held a tabletop exercise in Taipei focusing on Beijing’s use of economic and cybercoercion against Taiwan. The FDD mentioned an “anaconda strategy,” in which Beijing would likely use cyberwarfare and disinformation campaigns followed by a blockade or other measures to strangulate Taiwan, rather than attempting an invasion, the report said. A large-scale cyberattack would be
HSINCHU CASES: Five people among 35 who were reported being sick were still in hospital after eating at a vendor in a market in Jhubei, the local health agency said Thirty-five people have sought medical treatment for acute symptoms after allegedly eating banh mi (Vietnamese sandwiches) from a vendor in Jhubei City (竹北), the Hsinchu County Public Health Bureau said yesterday. The bureau said that since Saturday, it has received several reports of suspected food poisoning from hospitals. The vendor has been ordered to temporarily suspend its business, it said, adding that tests were being conducted to determine whether the people had food poisoning, with results expected in about two weeks. A preliminary investigation showed that the people who sought treatment had recently eaten banh mi at a vendor at a retail market
GOOD MODEL: Speaking at his book launch, Law said that Taiwan is the most democratic Chinese-speaking country, which is why Hong Kongers relocated here China has suffocated Hong Kong’s civil society and its next target could be Taiwan, Nathan Law (羅冠聰), cofounder of the disbanded pro-democracy Hong Kong political party Demosisto, said in Taipei yesterday. Law made the remarks at a launch in Taipei for his book When the Wind Blows — the Struggles for Freedom of Hong Kong (時代推著我們前行:羅冠聰的香港備忘錄). Law has been living in the UK since he fled Hong Kong in 2020, and the book is about his fighting for the cause of freedom in the area. He was granted political asylum in 2021. “Fleeing is a long and distressing process, but it also
IMITATING OTHERS? Tsai Ing-wen’s office said the former president rents a commercial unit for her personal office and had never used election funds to purchase real estate Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday confirmed that he used about NT$43 million (US$1.35 million) from his presidential election subsidy to purchase an office unit near the Legislative Yuan in May. Ko made the remarks after Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) earlier in the day told a news conference that she received a tip-off that the TPP chairman had purchased a 48.76 ping (161.2m2) office unit at Jinan Building (濟南大樓), a commercial building in Taipei’s Zhongzheng District (中正). Lin said that Ko purchased the unit on May 10, paying about NT$43 million in cash,