The nation’s tax revenue last month rose 24.9 percent year-on-year to NT$165.4 billion (US$5.36 billion) on the back of hefty gains from corporate and personal income taxes, even though income from stock and property transaction taxes declined, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday.
Corporate income tax revenue spiked 38.7 percent annually to NT$14.7 billion, as major Taiwanese companies posted sharp improvements in monthly earnings, the ministry said.
Corporate tax revenue is likely to beat the budget for this year, despite growing economic uncertainty, it said.
Photo: Clare Cheng, Taipei Times
Similarly, personal income tax revenue soared 66.8 percent to NT$91.5 billion, as cash dividends and capital gains taxes from property transactions continued to lend support, the ministry said.
For the first eight months of the year, personal income tax revenue totaled NT$125.7 billion, a solid pickup of 32 percent from the same time last year, the ministry’s data showed.
By contrast, tax revenue from securities trading plunged 42.3 percent year-on-year after daily turnover shrank from NT$497.5 billion to NT$438.2 billion, the ministry said.
Cumulative securities transaction tax revenue in the first eight months amounted to NT$123.5 billion, down 36.7 percent from a year earlier and is unlikely to meet the annual target amid the gloomy sentiment, it said.
Economic uncertainty also affected land value increment tax revenue, which stood at NT$7.3 billion last month, a 12.6 percent drop from a year earlier, the ministry said, adding that the number of taxable cases decreased 4.2 percent year-on-year to 44,006 last month.
Overall tax revenue from January to last month reached NT$2.26 trillion, growing 16.8 percent from a year earlier and meeting 83 percent of the government’s annual target.
“The chance is high that we might see another year of revenue surplus,” the ministry said.
Shares in Taiwan closed at a new high yesterday, the first trading day of the new year, as contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) continued to break records amid an artificial intelligence (AI) boom, dealers said. The TAIEX closed up 386.21 points, or 1.33 percent, at 29,349.81, with turnover totaling NT$648.844 billion (US$20.65 billion). “Judging from a stronger Taiwan dollar against the US dollar, I think foreign institutional investors returned from the holidays and brought funds into the local market,” Concord Securities Co (康和證券) analyst Kerry Huang (黃志祺) said. “Foreign investors just rebuilt their positions with TSMC as their top target,
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