Echoing the grievances of a number of businesses, lawmakers yesterday called on President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration to stop burdening small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with high land leasing fees and property transaction charges.
After receiving complaints by several SMEs in industrial zones in central and southern Taiwan, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lin Tai-hua (林岱樺) from Greater Kaohsiung accused the government of financially “squeezing” businesses.
“The treasury is depleted, so the Ma administration tries to extract money from workers. Is it now turning to extort money from small and medium enterprises?” Lin asked.
DPP Legislator Chen Ting-fei (陳亭妃) from Greater Tainan said that in the past decade, when faced with firms moving to China and Southeast Asian countries, the government had enacted an incentive measure for preferential land leasing rates in industrial zones in an effort to retain businesses.
‘These days, the government is swindling these companies, trying to extract more payment from them. The Industrial Development Bureau [IDB] has been oblivious to the many complaints from the suffering companies,” Chen said.
“Now with this situation and economy in stagnation ... we can see straight through Ma’s National Day address. He spoke about how industries must head toward higher value-added development. His words are nothing but lies and sloganeering,” she added.
The bureau recently sent out notices to more than 900 SMEs in 18 designated industrial parks, informing them that when they change their property lease or enter into a new land transaction, the businesses must now follow the current market valuation and not the price on the original contracts.
It involves the incentive proposition “Measure for Reinforcing the Adjustment of Preferential Rental Fees for Land in Industrial Zones,” also known as the “006688” measure. The proposition came into force on May 1, 2002.
The measure exempts companies from land lease fees during the first two years, seeks payment of 60 percent of full lease fees during the third and fourth years, 80 percent of full lease fees during the fifth and sixth years and the full payment of lease fees in the seventh year. The term limit for land leases is 20 years.
If the company applies to purchase the land before the lease period has expired, the guarantee deposit and lease fees already paid during the lease period may be subtracted from the original price of the contract. In this way the company is effectively exempted from lease fees during the lease period, according to information from the IDB.
DPP Legislator Lin Tai-hua (林岱樺) said that all the companies in the industrial zones had a common understanding that their signed original land contracts had been verified by the judiciary.
“But now the government’s executive branch is abusing their power to ‘play word games’ and ‘imposing their own definition,’ and so this is illegal and breaks binding contracts,” she said.
Lin accused the Ma administration of deceiving the public.
IDB chief secretary Chiu Chiu-hui (邱求慧) said the agency would find a fair and legal solution that is acceptable to all the companies involved.
A magnitude 4.9 earthquake struck off Tainan at 11:47am today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 32.3km northeast of Tainan City Hall at a depth of 7.3km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Tainan and Chiayi County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Chiayi City and County, and Yunlin County, while it was measured as 2 in Kaohsiung, Nantou County, Changhua County, Taitung County and offshore Penghu County, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of
Weather conditions across Taiwan are expected to remain stable today, but cloudy to rainy skies are expected from tomorrow onward due to increasing moisture in the atmosphere, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). Daytime highs today are expected to hit 25-27°C in western Taiwan and 22-24°C in the eastern counties of Yilan, Hualien, and Taitung, data on the CWA website indicated. After sunset, temperatures could drop to 16-17°C in most parts of Taiwan. For tomorrow, precipitation is likely in northern Taiwan as a cloud system moves in from China. Daytime temperatures are expected to hover around 25°C, the CWA said. Starting Monday, areas
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
Taiwan has recorded its first fatal case of Coxsackie B5 enterovirus in 10 years after a one-year-old boy from southern Taiwan died from complications early last month, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. CDC spokesman Lo Yi-chun (羅一鈞) told a news conference that the child initially developed a fever and respiratory symptoms before experiencing seizures and loss of consciousness. The boy was diagnosed with acute encephalitis and admitted to intensive care, but his condition deteriorated rapidly, and he passed away on the sixth day of illness, Lo said. This also marks Taiwan’s third enterovirus-related death this year and the first severe
RSS