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Protest as Taiwanese legislature cuts Land Tax |
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The Taiwanese parliament, the Yuan, has passed the much-debated land tax cuts as part of an overall tax reform strategy.
 The law made permanent cuts to the land value increment tax, a capital gains tax on property transactions. But many commentators raise voices of criticism. Huang Yao-huei, an associate researcher at the Chung-Hwa Institution for Economic Research, blamed the government for not taking heed to the Tax Reform Committee's recommendation of raising property taxes, which was not included in the revisions because the MOF did not propose it.
Higher annual property taxes would create a cost to hold land, Huang suggested, leading to fewer speculative investments in real estate and forcing owners to make more productive use of their holdings.
Raising property taxes separately, of course, is a tough sell, and Huang believes that the government lost an ideal opportunity to push these through in conjunction with lowering incremental land-value taxes.
Politicians also raised voices of criticism: Chien Hsi-wei, the head of the Pan-Purple Alliance, added that the lower tax rates without the extra provisions deviated from the spirit of wealth redistribution, which Chien called the basic principle of taxation.
Full story at Taiwan News Online.
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