The Cabinet yesterday passed a draft amendment to raise the tax on cigarettes, as well as the health and welfare surcharge on tobacco, by NT$25 per packet in a bid to help 740,000 people quit smoking, or a decline of 20.8 percent, officials said yesterday.
Under the amendments to the Tobacco Hazards Prevention Act (菸害防制法) and the Tobacco and Liquor Tax Act (菸酒稅法) approved at a Cabinet meeting, the health and welfare surcharge per pack of cigarettes would be raised to NT$40 from NT$20, while the tax on cigarettes would be increased to NT$16.8 from NT$11.8.
Even if the legislature approves the amendment, Taiwan would still not meet the standard set by the World Bank in which the tax, and health and wealth surcharge on cigarettes, should account for between 67 percent and 80 percent of the price, Department of Health Vice Minister Day Guey-ing (戴桂英) said.
Photo: CNA
Day said that an increase of NT$29 in the tax and surcharge is needed to meet the standard because the duties component currently accounts for only 54 percent of the price.
Cigarette prices are relatively low in Taiwan in comparison with the average price of NT$77 a packet in Thailand and NT$99 in Malaysia, but similar to the price of NT$68 in China, Day said.
Vice Minister of Finance William Tseng (曾銘宗) said the adjustments to the duties would result in a loss of NT$610 million (US$20.73 million) in tax revenue, but would bring in an additional NT$25 billion in health and welfare surcharges.
Photo: CNA
The revenues would be used to fund various welfare projects — to subsidize people who cannot afford to pay their health insurance premiums, on cancer screening, to set up care centers in remote areas and to fund vaccines for children, Day said.
Bureau of Health Promotion Director-General Chiou Shu-ti (邱淑媞) said the amendment would result in a long-term benefit of NT$296 billion, the savings in healthcare costs for people who quit smoking as a result of the increased duties and the productivity they contribute to the economy in the extended years they live after quitting smoking.
An undersea cable to Penghu County has been severed, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said today, with a Chinese-funded ship suspected of being responsible. It comes just a month after a Chinese ship was suspected of severing an undersea cable north of Keelung Harbor. The National Communications and Cyber Security Center received a report at 3:03am today from Chunghwa Telecom that the No. 3 cable from Taiwan to Penghu was severed 14.7km off the coast of Tainan, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) upon receiving a report from Chunghwa Telecom began to monitor the Togolese-flagged Hong Tai (宏泰)
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
Actor Lee Wei (李威) was released on bail on Monday after being named as a suspect in the death of a woman whose body was found in the meeting place of a Buddhist group in Taipei’s Daan District (大安) last year, prosecutors said. Lee, 44, was released on NT$300,000 (US$9,148) bail, while his wife, surnamed Chien (簡), was released on NT$150,000 bail after both were summoned to give statements regarding the woman’s death. The home of Lee, who has retreated from the entertainment business in the past few years, was also searched by prosecutors and police earlier on Monday. Lee was questioned three
RISING TOURISM: A survey showed that tourist visits increased by 35 percent last year, while newly created attractions contributed almost half of the growth Changhua County’s Lukang Old Street (鹿港老街) and its surrounding historical area clinched first place among Taiwan’s most successful tourist attractions last year, while no location in eastern Taiwan achieved a spot in the top 20 list, the Tourism Administration said. The listing was created by the Tourism Administration’s Forward-looking Tourism Policy Research office. Last year, the Lukang Old Street and its surrounding area had 17.3 million visitors, more than the 16 million visitors for the Wenhua Road Night Market (文化路夜市) in Chiayi City and 14.5 million visitors at Tainan’s Anping (安平) historical area, it said. The Taipei 101 skyscraper and its environs —
RSS