SOCIETY
Tax change could aid 2.3m
About 2.3 million households could benefit from an upward adjustment of the basic living expense per person this year, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said on Friday. The Taxpayer Rights Protection Act (納稅者權利保護法) stipulates that people should not be taxed on the amount they need to cover basic expenses, which is set at 60 percent of the preceding year’s median disposable per capita income. The latest survey of family income released on Friday by the DGBAS showed that median disposable income was NT$337,000 per person last year, up NT$11,000 from 2021. Based on that figure, the basic living expense for this year, which applies to taxpayers and their dependents, would be NT$202,000, which is NT$6,000 more than it was last year. When basic living expenses exceed the combined personal tax exemption, standard deduction and special deductions, the difference can be deducted from the taxpayer’s gross income. For a family of four, the extra NT$24,000 cushion provided by the higher basic living expense standard would provide income tax savings of NT$1,200 at a 5 percent tax rate and NT$2,880 at a 12 percent tax rate.
SOCIETY
Festival to limit Taipei traffic
Traffic controls are to be imposed around Taipei’s Dadaocheng (大稻埕) area today, the final day of the Taipei Summer Festival, which is to culminate in an eight-minute fireworks display, the city’s police department said yesterday. Traffic controls are to be imposed across several roads leading to and around the Dadaocheng Wharf (大稻埕碼頭) area from 6pm to 9:30pm, it said. The sections closed to vehicles would include Liangzhou Street, Yanping N Road, Changan W Road, Tacheng Street and Zhengshou Road, it said. Traffic is to be blocked at nine entry points, including the intersection of Minsheng W Road and Chongqing N Road, as well as the intersection of Nanjing W Road and Chongqing N Road, it said. At the same time, two-way traffic controls are to be implemented on a section of the elevated Huanhe Expressway between Minzu W Road and Zhongxiao Bridge. From 7:30pm to 9pm, crowd controls would be imposed for sidewalks on Zhongxiao Bridge and Taipei Bridge, police said. Riverside parking lots from Gates No. 3 to No. 5 near Dadaocheng would remain closed to vehicles throughout the day. The closing fireworks display for the festival is to start at 8:35pm.
CRIME
Man investigated for killing
A man is being investigated for homicide after allegedly slitting his girlfriend’s throat with a fruit knife while sitting behind her on a scooter she was driving, Kaohsiung police said yesterday. The incident happened while the couple, both from Vietnam, were traveling on Chenggong Road in the city’s Gangshan District (岡山) on Tuesday night, police told a news conference. The man then stabbed himself with the knife, after which the pair fell to the ground, police said, adding that the knife was found at the scene. The woman was pronounced dead at a local hospital, while the man was unconscious, police said. The suspect regained consciousness yesterday, and is being investigated by the Ciaotou District Prosecutors’ Office. Based on video footage from nearby surveillance cameras, the incident might have been as a result of a dispute between the couple, police said.
Theaters and institutions in Taiwan have received 28 threatening e-mails, including bomb threats, since a documentary critical of China began being screened across the nation last month, the National Security Bureau said yesterday. The actions are part of China’s attempts to undermine Taiwan’s sovereignty, it said. State Organs (國有器官) documents allegations that Chinese government officials engage in organ harvesting and other illegal activities. From last month to Friday last week, 28 incidents have been reported of theaters or institutions receiving threats, including bomb and shooting threats, if they did not stop showing the documentary, the bureau said. Although the threats were not carried out,
‘GRAY ZONE’ TACTICS: China continues to build up its military capacity while regularly deploying jets and warships around Taiwan, with the latest balloon spotted on Sunday The US is drawing up contingency plans for military deployments in Japan and the Philippines in case of a Taiwan emergency, Japan’s Kyodo news agency reported. They would be incorporated in a first joint operation plan to be formulated in December, Kyodo reported late on Sunday, citing sources familiar with Japan-US relations. A US Marine Corps regiment that possesses High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems — a light multiple rocket launcher — would be deployed along the Nansei Island chain stretching from Kyushu to Yonaguni near Taiwan, Kyodo said. According to US military guidelines for dispatching marines in small formations to several locations,
As Taiwan celebrated its baseball team’s victory in the World Baseball Softball Confederation’s Premier12 on Sunday, how politicians referred to the team in their congratulatory messages reflected the nation’s political divide. Taiwan, competing under the name Chinese Taipei (中華台北隊), made history with its first-ever Premier12 championship after beating Japan 4-0 at the Tokyo Dome. Right after the game, President William Lai (賴清德) congratulated the team via a post on his Facebook page. Besides the players, Lai also lauded the team’s coaching and medical staff, and the fans cheering for them in Tokyo or watching the live broadcast, saying that “every
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday confirmed that Chinese students visiting Taiwan at the invitation of the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation were almost all affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). During yesterday’s meeting convened by the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) asked whether the visit was a way to spread China’s so-called “united front” rhetoric, to which MAC Deputy Ministry Shen You-chung (沈有忠) responded with the CCP comment. The MAC noticed that the Chinese individuals visiting Taiwan, including those in sports, education, or religion, have had increasingly impressive backgrounds, demonstrating that the
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