The Ministry of Finance last month collected NT$95.1 billion (US$3.03 billion) of tax revenue, a mild 0.6 percent retreat from a year earlier, as the Lunar New Year holiday reduced working days and skewed the base comparison effect, it said yesterday.
However, tax revenues in the first two months of the year rose 16.9 percent annually to NT$318.5 billion after excluding the holiday effect, with pickups seen in most tax categories, the ministry said.
Last month, tax revenue from securities transactions rose 15.5 percent annually to NT$14.1 billion, despite fewer trading days, ministry statistics official Liu Shun-rong (劉訓蓉) said.
Photo: Clare Cheng, Taipei Times
Liu attributed the increase to an artificial intelligence (AI) frenzy that is attracting global funds to raise holdings in Taiwanese tech companies that supply electronics used in AI equipment and services.
That effect boosted the local exchange’s daily turnover to NT$468.4 billion last month, up 66.9 percent from a year earlier, he said.
Personal income tax revenue increased 6.4 percent to NT$43.9 billion last month on the back of cash dividends and property income gains, he said.
Taiwanese firms increasingly distribute cash dividends quarterly or semiannually, rather than annually in the third quarter as in the past.
At the same time, corporate income tax revenue soared 34.8 percent to NT$6.2 billion, due to income tax declaration plans, Liu said.
Tax revenue from land value increases last month dipped 2.7 percent to NT$5.5 billion, but the combined amount in the first two months soared 27.8 percent to NT$13.8 billion, indicating a recovery in the local property market, he said.
Likewise, sales tax revenue fell 17 percent to NT$12.5 billion last month due to holiday disruptions, but rose 5.1 percent over the first two months, he said.
Overall tax revenue in the first two months indicated that revenue is ahead of the government’s budget schedule by 9.5 percent, the ministry said.
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