The Executive Yuan yesterday approved a slew of draft amendments that would give the government and the courts some flexibility in setting fines instead of fixed rates.
The amendments to Article 54 of the Land Tax Act (土地稅法), Articles 29, 30 and 31 of the Vehicle License Tax Act (使用牌照稅法) and select articles under the Tobacco and Liquor Tax Act (菸酒稅法) would allow agencies more leeway in assigning fines based on the severity of the breach, the Ministry of Finance said.
Amendments to the Land Tax Act target those who purchase land or resell it without registering the change of ownership with the government, the ministry said.
Photo: David Chang, EPA
The amendments would change the fines for contravening the act from a fixed rate of 2 percent of the land’s sale price to fines of 2 percent or lower of the current land value, they added.
For the Vehicle License Tax Act, the amendments would change the fines for those who contravene the terms of temporary licenses, vehicle test drive licenses or who purchased a vehicle and do not obtain a license from the fixed rate of double the tax to a fine of less than double the original tax for the vehicle, the ministry said.
The sale or transfer of a vehicle license would reduce the driver’s payment of the vehicle tax from three times to three times or less, it said.
As for amendments to the Tobacco and Liquor Tax Act, the penalty floor for fines would be removed and the wording would be changed from “double to quadruple the original tax” to “quadruple the original tax or lower,” the ministry said.
Unintentional or minor contraventions could result in lower fines, it added.
The ministry also abolished a stand-in penalty clause introduced after the nation did away with the government monopoly on tobacco and alcohol sales, and announced that overdue tobacco and alcohol tax, as well as Tobacco Health and Welfare Surcharges, would now observe Article 20 of the Tax Collection Act (稅捐稽徵法).
The article states that delinquency charges for overdue tax would equal 1 percent of the taxable amount every three days of delay.
The ministry said it would work with the legislature, adding that it hopes to complete ratification as soon as possible.
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
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 —
Taiwan on Friday said a New Zealand hamburger restaurant has apologized for a racist remark to a Taiwanese customer after reports that it had first apologized to China sparked outrage in Taiwan. An image posted on Threads by a Taiwanese who ate at Fergburger in Queenstown showed that their receipt dated Sunday last week included the words “Ching Chang,” a racial slur. The Chinese Consulate-General in Christchurch in a statement on Thursday said it had received and accepted an apology from the restaurant over the incident. The comment triggered an online furor among Taiwanese who saw it as an insult to the
RSS