Real-estate taxes clear Legislative YuanREACHING BACK: The changes, aimed at preventing individuals from creating entities to avoid capital gains taxes, would apply retroactively to transactions dating to 2016Staff writer, with CNAThe Legislative Yuan yesterday approved amendments to the Income Tax Act (所得稅法) that are on July 1 to place a 45 percent capital gains tax on individuals and businesses selling real estate within two years of purchase. The bill, intended to curb real-estate speculation, was passed after legislators in interparty negotiations on Wednesday resolved areas of disagreement, including setting July 1 for the changes to take effect. Legislative Speaker You Si-kun bangs his gavel in the legislature in Taipei yesterday after the legislature approved amendments to the Income Tax Act. Businesses pay an across-the-board rate of 20 percent on such gains under corporate income tax rules. The tax on individuals for gains on properties sold five to 10 years after purchase would be 20 percent, and 15 percent thereafter.

Monthly births hit all-time lowSHRINKING FEMALE POPULATION: Last year, 107.74 boys were born for every 100 girls in Taiwan, which is a greater gender imbalance than in Japan and South Korea The Ministry of the Interior recorded 9,601 births in January, the first time the nation has produced fewer than 10,000 newborns in a single month, while different indicators showed that Taiwan might also be facing a population with increasingly fewer births, women and marriages. It comes after the ministry reported a record low 165,249 births last year, which was lower than the 173,156 deaths recorded last year. The nation experienced negative population growth for the first time last year, ministry data found. The number of births in January also dropped from a year earlier, when there were 12,510 births. In February, there wereBy Chien Hui-ju

Cathay Life to pay NT$60m to families after train accidentBy Kao Shih-ching / Staff reporterCathay Life Insurance Co (國泰人壽) is to pay NT$60 million (US$2.1 million) in compensation for 21 of its clients who died in Friday last week’s derailment of Taroko Express No. 408, including the train’s driver and assistant driver, the insurer said on Sunday. It would also pay out to another 80 people injured in the accident in Hualien County, it said. Logos of local life insurance companies are shown in an undated photograph. Meanwhile, Fubon Life Insurance Co (富邦人壽) said it is to pay a combined compensation of NT$15 million for its 10 clients who died in the accident.

Taroko Express Crash: KMT calls on premier to resign over derailmentBy Sherry Hsiao / Staff reporterThe Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus has called on Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) to step down after a train derailment in Hualien County on Friday left 50 people dead. The accident occurred at 9:28am when the Taiwan Railways Administration’s (TRA) Taroko Express No. From left, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators Jennifer Chen, Cheng Li-wun, Alex Fai and Hung Mong-kai hold a news conference at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday. Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei TimesPresident Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) should also apologize to the public, the KMT caucus said. Meanwhile, the KMT caucus is to propose the establishment of an incident review committee at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee scheduled for tomorrow, said KMT Legislator Hung Mong-kai (洪孟楷), who sits on the committee.

Taipower to phase out coal at Sinda over next five years, as protests mountStaff writer, with CNAAll four coal-fired generators at the Sinda Power Plant (興達電廠) are to be phased out over the next five years and replaced with natural gas-powered units, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said on Sunday, amid protests over air pollution in Kaohsiung. Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) plans to decommission all four coal-fired generators at the Sinda Power Plant within five years, the ministry said in a statement. 1 and 2 coal-fired generators are scheduled to be decommissioned in 2023 and replaced with natural gas-powered ones, it said. The Sinda Power Plant in Kaohsiung is pictured in an undated photograph. Over the past five years, state-owned Taipower has been working to reduce the use of coal at the Sinda plant by more than 2 million tonnes, or 34 percent, compared with 2016, the ministry said.

More than 40 statues or other authoritarian symbols have been excised since August last year, after the central government removed an additional 11 and local governments eliminated 32, data showed. A bronze statue of former president Chiang Kai-shek stands at the Shihmen Reservoir in Taoyuan yesterday. The Examination Yuan is also to change the names of three locations and remove two bronze statues under its jurisdiction, it added. Meanwhile, the Veterans Affairs Council has moved five of the 61 authoritarian symbols under its jurisdiction to storage or the National Property Administration, and is awaiting approval for them to be removed permanently, the commission said. A bronze statue of Chiang Kai-shek remains at the National Palace Museum in Taipei, as do two administered by the Council of Agriculture, it added.

Donations oversight body to be set upTAROKO INCIDENT: The committee would regulate how public donations for victims of Friday’s train accident, which have exceeded NT$60 million, would be usedBy Shelley Shan / Staff reporterThe government has collected about NT$60 million (US$2.1 million) in donations through Line Pay and convenience stores for victims of last week’s fatal train accident and plans to establish an oversight committee to determine how the funds should be used to help them, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) said yesterday. The exterior of Taipei 101 in Xinyi District yesterday displays an electronic message of condolence for victims of Friday’s train accident in Hualien County. The Ministry of Health and Welfare is in charge of accepting public donations. The ministry would also set up an oversight committee to strictly regulate the use of the funds, he said. The agency has not confirmed if Lee breached the agency’s order of not working on the construction site from Thursday to yesterday, Yen said.

It comes after the ministry reported a record low 165,249 births last year, which was lower than the 173,156 deaths recorded last year. The nation experienced negative population growth for the first time last year, ministry data found. Photo: Copied by Tsai Shu-yuan, Taipei TimesThe number of births in January also dropped from a year earlier, when there were 12,510 births. The ratio was 110.08 males for every 100 females in 2003 and 110.57:100 in 2004, ministry data showed. Whether the pandemic was the main cause of the decline in births in January could be judged by whether the number of births subsequently rises or falls, Cheng said.

Taipei pilot project to give students free menstrual padsBy Tsai Ya-hua / Staff reporterTo tackle the issue of “period poverty,” the Taipei Department of Education is considering offering free menstrual pads to female junior-high school students. Referencing New Zealand’s experience, department officials said they have discussed the matter with junior-high school administration officials and teachers. The pilot program, to be launched as early as June, would provide menstrual pads provided by corporate sponsors to 1,500 of the about 25,000 female junior-high school students in the city, she said. Boys and girls have different needs, and girls using menstrual pads should be seen as normal, not embarrassing, Pan said. Female students at the school were not in agreement over how free menstrual products should be distributed.

Climate groups call for cleaner Kaohsiung airDIFFERENT PRIORITIES: Residents of Kaohsiung prefer breathable air over holiday fireworks displays, a spokesman of South Taiwan Air Clear saidStaff writer, with CNAEnvironmental protection groups in Kaohsiung yesterday protested against air pollution and global warming, urging the local and central governments to pay attention to the effects of air pollution on people’s health in southern Taiwan. The groups demanded that the coal-fired Singda Power Plant (興達) in Kaohsiung be closed; China Steel Corp, the nation’s biggest steelmaker, close one blast furnace; the threshold for air pollution emergency response measures be lowered; and air purifiers be installed in all classrooms. The average life expectancy of Kaohsiung residents is the lowest among the nation’s six special municipalities, South Taiwan Air Clear spokesman Lee Chien-cheng (李建誠) said. Members of an environmental protection group, one wearing a mask in the likeness of Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai, participate in a street performance at a protest in Kaohsiung yesterday. Kaohsiung residents would prefer better air quality to protect their children over this year’s Double Ten National Day fireworks display, which Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai’s (陳其邁) announced last month would be held in the city, he said.

TAROKO EXPRESS CRASH: Minister offers verbal resignationKEEPING FOCUSED: Premier Su Tseng-chang was said to have commended Minister of Transportation and Communications Lin Chia-lung, but said the tragedy takes priorityStaff writer, with CNAMinister of Transportation and Communications Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) has submitted a verbal resignation in the wake of the Taroko Express No. Minister of Transportation and Communications Lin Chia-lung talks to reporters in Hualien County yesterday. Properly dealing with issues in the aftermath of a tragedy is also a way of taking responsibility, Su told the minister, and he declined to discuss the offer at this time, Lo added. Asked whether he had submitted a formal resignation, Lin would only say that his priority was to minimize the damage caused by the crash. The position is being filled in an acting capacity by Deputy Minister of Transportation and Communications Chi Wen-chung (祈文中).

Notes from central Taiwan: Please burst my bubbleThe nation needs to raise its electricity prices now to fully achieve its renewable energy goalsBy Michael Turton / Contributing reporterThis week, the government announced that electricity prices would not be raised for the next six months. However, the committee in charge decided to wait until September to see the effects of adjustments to Taiwan’s power generation structure. Photo courtesy of TaipowerSUBSIDY BUBBLEAnd so, once again, the government declined to let Taiwan’s consumers leave their bubble of low prices. Both media and industry observers have criticized the government’s renewable energy policy, arguing its mandates are too small. To decouple electricity prices from implementation of renewable energy, the government needs to start raising electricity prices yesterday.

The 199,200 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine were shipped from Amsterdam on a China Airlines (中華航空) plane and arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport at 5:21am. The first batch of COVID-19 vaccines allocated to Taiwan through the global vaccine sharing program COVAX is offloaded after its arrival at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport yesterday. Taiwan has so far received 316,200 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, as the first batch that arrived last month comprised 117,000 doses. Meanwhile, Taiwan yesterday reported two imported cases of COVID-19: a Taiwanese man who returned on a medical charter flight and an Indonesian student. The 14 passengers who sat close to him on the flight to Taiwan have been placed under home isolation, Chuang added.

Train accident injuries rise, death toll drops to 50Staff writer, with CNAThe number of people injured in a Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) train accident in Hualien County on Friday has increased to 200, the Central Emergency Operation Center (CEOC) said. As of press time last night, the confirmed death toll had been revised from 51 to 50 by the Hualien District Prosecutors’ Office after DNA testing. Workers use cranes and diggers to remove a train wreckage from a stretch of railroad in Hualien County yesterday. The first five carriages of the train derailed and piled up inside the narrow, single-track tunnel. From the sixth day after their arrival, they would be allowed to take a PCR test every three days if they need to apply for compassionate leave from quarantine, it said.

DBS provides two-year SLL worth NT$1bn to WistronBy Kao Shih-ching / Staff reporterDBS Bank Taiwan (星展銀行) has provided a two-year sustainability-linked loan (SLL) worth NT$1 billion (US$35.05 million) to Wistron Corp (緯創), with the loan’s interest rate set to fall next year at the soonest if Wistron’s sustainability performance improves, the lender said on Wednesday. That marked DBS Taiwan’s second major sustainability-linked loan after a NT$2 billion loan to AU Optronics Corp (AUO, 友達光電) in 2019. The DBS Bank logo is pictured at the bank’s Tianmu branch in Taipei on Jan. 12. “It has been a global trend to balance business and sustainable development.” DBS Taiwan general manager Lim Him Chuan (林鑫川) said in a statement. DBS Taiwan was the first bank in the nation to issue an SLL, followed by HSBC Bank (Taiwan) Ltd (匯豐台灣商銀) and Taipei Fubon Commercial Bank (台北富邦銀行).