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.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as