A proposal to cover long-term care costs by increasing taxes on cigarettes by NT$20 (US$0.63) per pack is expected to pass its final vote in the legislature this week.
The legislature is scheduled to deliberate on proposed amendments to the bill on long-term care services for the nation’s older and vulnerable citizens in a committee today, which includes increasing estate, gift and tobacco taxes.
A vote on the proposal on Wednesday is expected to pass.
According to the draft, the estate and gift taxes would be increased from 10 percent to 20 percent, while the tobacco tax would be increased from NT$590 to NT1,590 per 1,000 cigarettes. The additional revenue would be used to finance a long-term care fund.
The estate and gift taxes are expected to increase revenue by NT$6 billion and the tobacco tax by NT$15.8 billion, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said.
Taxes on individual packs of cigarettes are to rise from about NT$11.8 to NT$31.8, which is expected to lead to a corresponding increase in market prices, the ministry said.
The tax hikes are expected to generate NT$21.8 billion in revenue, enough to cover the cost of long-term care needs for this fiscal year, which are estimated at NT$17.7 billion for the initial stage of “long-term care services program 2.0,” it added.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said that although he believes the tax hikes are a “done deal,” he continues to have reservations as to whether they are a financial solution, adding that the taxes are “unstable sources of revenue from year to year.”
“The wealthy are already moving their assets to offshore tax havens and fiscal problems will surely resurface in five years’ time. Making smokers pay more taxes to support long-term care is a perverse way to encourage smoking, and raising prices would only exacerbate rampant tobacco smuggling,” Chiang said.
New Power Party Legislator Hsu Yung-ming (徐永明) said he is supporting an increase to the estate and gift taxes on the condition that the legal mandate is written with effective policy implementation and follow-up.
“Regarding the tobacco tax, responsible agencies have not clarified how raising prices could reduce the smoking population and serve as a source of revenue at the same time; as such, its instability as a revenue source will be an inevitable problem,” he said.
The Ministry of Finance’s estimates that the tobacco tax increase would reduce the annual quantity of cigarettes consumed by 330 million packs, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Lin Ching-yi (林靜儀) said, adding that the tax hike is “good public health policy” and generating sufficient revenue is “a small problem for the moment.”
Finding enough qualified nurses and caretakers is an urgent issue, which should be addressed by encouraging young people to begin careers in those fields, she added.
DEEPER REVIEW: After receiving 19 hospital reports of suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health applied for an epidemiological investigation A buffet restaurant in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義) is to be fined NT$3 million (US$91,233) after it remained opened despite an order to suspend operations following reports that 32 people had been treated for suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. The health department said it on Tuesday received reports from hospitals of people who had suspected food poisoning symptoms, including nausea, vomiting, stomach pain and diarrhea, after they ate at an INPARADISE (饗饗) branch in Breeze Xinyi on Sunday and Monday. As more than six people who ate at the restaurant sought medical treatment, the department ordered the
A strong continental cold air mass and abundant moisture bringing snow to mountains 3,000m and higher over the past few days are a reminder that more than 60 years ago Taiwan had an outdoor ski resort that gradually disappeared in part due to climate change. On Oct. 24, 2021, the National Development Council posted a series of photographs on Facebook recounting the days when Taiwan had a ski resort on Hehuanshan (合歡山) in Nantou County. More than 60 years ago, when developing a branch of the Central Cross-Island Highway, the government discovered that Hehuanshan, with an elevation of more than 3,100m,
Taiwan’s population last year shrank further and births continued to decline to a yearly low, the Ministry of the Interior announced today. The ministry published the 2024 population demographics statistics, highlighting record lows in births and bringing attention to Taiwan’s aging population. The nation’s population last year stood at 23,400,220, a decrease of 20,222 individuals compared to 2023. Last year, there were 134,856 births, representing a crude birth rate of 5.76 per 1,000 people, a slight decline from 2023’s 135,571 births and 5.81 crude birth rate. This decrease of 715 births resulted in a new record low per the ministry’s data. Since 2016, which saw
SECURITY: To protect the nation’s Internet cables, the navy should use buoys marking waters within 50m of them as a restricted zone, a former navy squadron commander said A Chinese cargo ship repeatedly intruded into Taiwan’s contiguous and sovereign waters for three months before allegedly damaging an undersea Internet cable off Kaohsiung, a Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) investigation revealed. Using publicly available information, the Liberty Times was able to reconstruct the Shunxing-39’s movements near Taiwan since Double Ten National Day last year. Taiwanese officials did not respond to the freighter’s intrusions until Friday last week, when the ship, registered in Cameroon and Tanzania, turned off its automatic identification system shortly before damage was inflicted to a key cable linking Taiwan to the rest of
RSS