The legislature yesterday approved amendments requiring the registration of actual real-estate sale prices to combat real-estate speculation, but fell short of revising rules to impose a tax on transactions based on prices registered.
Lawmakers across party lines praised the passage of the amendments to the Equalization of Land Rights Act (平均地權條例), the Real Estate Broking Management Act (不動產經紀業管理條例) and the Land Administration Agent Act (地政士法).
Under the amendments, land administration agents, real-estate buyers and real-estate brokers must register the actual value of property transactions within 30 days of a deal being closed, or face a fine of between NT$30,000 and NT$150,000.
The amendments could help contain housing speculation and assist the government in adopting effective measures to prevent dealers from spreading false information to the public, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chen Chieh-ju (陳節如) said.
“Transparency in the real-estate market is the most basic request of consumers,” she said.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lai Shyh-bao (賴士葆) described the revisions as “the first step to realizing housing justice,” even though “there is still a long way to go to” charge tax on capital gains arising from real property transactions.
“Passage of the three acts had nothing to do with levying capital gains on the sale of estate property because the amendments stated that the registered prices could not be used as basis to levy taxes until other related acts are revised,” Lai said.
Meanwhile, the legislature enacted the Housing Act (住宅法), which requires the central and local governments to regularly publish real-estate market statistics and adopt market-adjustment measures to stabilize the market when necessary and address problems arising from unbalanced supply and demand.
The act stipulated that 10 percent of “social housing” shall be rented to disadvantaged groups.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by