Legislators ratify property tax bills
Legislators ratify property tax billsWARNING: Firms shifting production bases home have been more responsible for price rises, a developer said, adding that the bills would ‘play havoc’ with the marketBy Crystal Hsu / Staff reporterThe legislature’s Finance Committee yesterday approved bills that would raise property taxes, making it more difficult to make a profit from short-term property transactions, including transfers of presale projects and shares. The bills would subject houses sold within two years of purchase to combined property taxes of 45 percent, while the taxes would be 35 percent on houses sold within five years of purchase. The bills need to clear the legislature, with lawmakers divided on when the new tax rates should be implemented pending further cross-party negotiations. The punitive tax rates of 35 and 45 percent also apply to foreign individuals and corporations, as well as share transfers among unlisted firms. Companies shifting their production bases home from overseas have been more responsible for property price rises, Lai said.
Source:Taipei Times
March 29, 2021 15:56 UTC
Ko weighs in on Xinjiang cotton
Ko weighs in on Xinjiang cottonBy Lee I-chia and Shi Hsiao-guang / Staff reportersChina needs to improve its human rights, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said yesterday, adding that global anti-China sentiment would last for the next 15 years. Ko was responding to reporters’ questions about a recent Xinjiang cotton controversy. “The trade war between the US and China will certainly continue, but China still has to improve its human rights” record, Ko said. “Human rights is a universal value, so many countries are very concerned about the forced labor of Uighurs and other Muslims in China’s Xinjiang region and their human rights. People in Taiwan have very limited knowledge about what is happening in Xinjiang, so Chinese authorities and the parties concerned should make information transparent, enabling more people to understand the working and living conditions of cotton farmers in Xinjiang, which would help resolve the debate, he said.
Source:Taipei Times
March 28, 2021 15:56 UTC
Children need family ‘quality time’: CWLF
The foundation releases an annual survey to remind parents of the needs and concerns of children, foundation chief executive officer Pai Li-fang (白麗芳) said. Asked whether they spend “quality time” with members of their family, 8.5 percent of students said they did not, it found. The survey showed that the children on average spent 13.2 hours per week playing smartphone games. Twelve-year-old children on average spent 16 hours playing smartphone games — nearly twice the average of 10-year-olds (8.6 hours), it showed. Family interactions are closely related to the happiness of children, the foundation said.
Source:Taipei Times
March 28, 2021 15:56 UTC
Taipower ships 120 rods from nuclear plant
Taipower ships 120 rods from nuclear plantBy Chen Cheng-hui / Staff reporterState-run Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) yesterday shipped 120 unused fuel rods from the mothballed Fourth Nuclear Power Plant back to their US supplier as part of its plan to shut down the plant, the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the sister paper of the Taipei Times) reported on its Web site yesterday. The Fourth Nuclear Power Plant is pictured in New Taipei City’s Gongliao District in an undated photograph. However, the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted global shipping and delayed the process, leaving a small batch of fuel rods at the plant. Taipower has sent back all 1,744 fuel rods to the US in seven batches since July 2018, the report said. The move came as a national referendum on activating the power plant is to take place on Aug. 28.
Source:Taipei Times
March 28, 2021 15:56 UTC
Export zones renamed industrial parks
Export zones renamed industrial parksVIRUS FALLOUT? Officials from the export processing zones in Kaohsiung, Taichung and Pingtung County videoconferenced as they renamed the zones as technology industrial parks, marking the end of export processing zones in Taiwan after 55 years. The zones that were renamed technology industrial parks are to target smart manufacturing, equipment upgrades and advanced material research, with the aim of developing into important high-end manufacturing centers in Taiwan, the administration said. Speaking at the ceremony, Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) praised the role that export processing zones played in launching the nation’s economic development. The industrial parks in Taichung host mainly optical, electronics, flat-panel display, software and digital content companies; the industrial parks in Kaohsiung host mainly semiconductor, optoelectronics, logistics, software and digital content companies; and the industrial parks in Pingtung County host mainly water treatment companies and electric motor manufacturers.
Source:Taipei Times
March 28, 2021 15:56 UTC
Stand-in festival
Tunnel built for Chiang Kai-shek opens to publicTHE GREAT ESCAPE: Equipped with explosion-proof lighting, sound-dampened walls and an 84-step spiral staircase, the 67m-long passage opens to a garden An underground tunnel in the east wing of the Grand Hotel in Taipei that once served as an emergency exit for former president Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) was yesterday opened to the public for the first time since it was built 50 years ago. A passage in the west wing of the hotel has been open since September 2019, drawing more than 50,000 visitors within three months of its opening. Last year, about 170,000 visited the west tunnel, the hotel said. As tours of the west tunnel were warmly received, the hotel began renovating the east passage more than a year ago toBy Shelley Shan
Source:Taipei Times
March 27, 2021 18:56 UTC
Veteran donates Taoyuan home to help elderly people
Veteran donates Taoyuan home to help elderly peopleBy Hsu Cho-hsun, Yang Chin-cheng, William Hetherington and Ja / Staff reporters, with staff writersA 95-year-old veteran has donated a property in Taoyuan worth NT$7 million (US$244,738) to build a facility to help elderly people, the Taoyuan City Government said on Monday. Veteran Liu Yung-chung (劉永中), who lives in Pingjhen District (平鎮), said that volunteers in his Sanan (三安) community have for years provided a lot of assistance to him and his wife. Joking about his time in the military, Liu said that he was “not strong and his aim was terrible,” but his handwriting was “not bad.”“I have even dabbled a bit in calligraphy. His donation was in part due to the suggestion of Church of Living Springs priest Ting Ning-en (丁濘恩), but also because he wanted to help others, Yao said. All proceeds would go towards a fund established to help children from disadvantaged families to focus on their education.
Source:Taipei Times
March 27, 2021 15:56 UTC
Military’s largest apparel store opens in Kaohsiung
Military’s largest apparel store opens in KaohsiungBy Chang Chung-yi and Jonathan Chin / Staff reporter, with staff writerThe nation’s largest military uniform and apparel commissary opened on Monday, providing service members with uniforms and other services at Kaohsiung’s Zuoying Naval Base. Employees stand behind a counter shaped like a submarine at Carnival Industrial Corp’s newly opened military uniform and apparel store at Kaohsiung’s Zuoying Naval Base on Monday. Photo: Chang Chung-yi, Taipei TimesThe commissary provides uniforms, laundry, tailoring and uniform-exchange services as part of a government initiative to improve service members’ standard of living, Chang said. Although the complex is designed to cater primarily to service members, civilian visitors would also be welcome, she said, adding that Carnival expects to benefit from domestic tourism. Carnival is to prepare a convoy of vehicles with uniforms and tailors to travel to other military locations as a mobile one-stop source for military apparel and related services, the company said.
Source:Taipei Times
March 27, 2021 15:56 UTC
President outlines goals for justice commission
President outlines goals for justice commissionFULFILLING ‘OUR MISSION’: Calling transitional justice crucial to Taiwan’s democracy, Tsai urged the commission to expedite its research into cases of political persecutionBy Lee Hsin-fang and William Hetherington / Staff reporter, with staff writerPresident Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday laid out goals for the Transitional Justice Commission during a ceremony in Taipei for 100 victims of political persecution who have received pardons. Transitional justice has been crucial to strengthening Taiwan’s democracy, she said. Front row, from sixth left to eighth: Transitional Justice Commission Chairwoman Yang Tsui, President Tsai Ing-wen and Premier Su Tseng-chang pose with exonerated political victims of the White Terror era and their families during a ceremony in Taipei yesterday. Tsai apologized to the victims for their long wait for justice. The ceremony commemorated the repeal of 105 charges against 100 people, 26 of whom have not yet received compensation.
Source:Taipei Times
March 27, 2021 15:56 UTC
The Singapore of the future is small and rich
When Singapore became independent in 1965, the average mother had at least four children. However, this view skates past a certain inevitability: Singapore’s economic star was destined to fade long before its demographic challenges manifested. In Singapore, per capita income roughly doubled every decade from 1966 to 1990, and GDP rose 8.5 percent per year, Krugman said. “Even without going through the formal exercise of growth accounting, these numbers should make it obvious that Singapore’s growth has been based largely on one-time changes in behavior that cannot be repeated,” he wrote. Historically, Singapore embraced workers from abroad, who brought specific skills required by multinational companies or perform roles that do not excite locals.
Source:Taipei Times
March 27, 2021 15:56 UTC
Compal forecasts double-digit percentage growth
Compal forecasts double-digit percentage growthBy Angelica Oung / Staff reporterContract laptop computer maker Compal Electronics Inc (仁寶) yesterday forecast year-on-year double-digit percentage growth for its laptop computer shipments, thanks to strong demand. Compal president Martin Wong (翁宗斌) told an investors’ conference that he predicted double-digit percentage growth year-on-year “without too many difficulties.”Even with uncertainty over component shortages, Compal’s PC and non-PC businesses should grow by double-digit percentage points this year, with overall growth of 20 to 25 percent, Wong said. People stand in the foyer of the head office of Compal Electronics Inc in Taipei on Sept. 1 last year. Last year, consolidated revenue rose 7 percent year-on-year to NT$1.04 trillion, the first time Compal’s consolidated revenue has broken the trillion-dollar mark. Having invested in electric vehicles (EVs) over the past eight or nine years, Compal counts major European and US automakers among its customers.
Source:Taipei Times
March 26, 2021 15:56 UTC
Social workers decry demand to give up pay
Social workers decry demand to give up payHARD WORK: Kaohsiung said it is launching a probe into allegations that some NGOs ask social workers to ‘donate’ their pay to sidestep government inspectionsBy Chung Li-hua and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with staff writerSocial worker groups yesterday accused some non-governmental organizations (NGO) of demanding that employees “donate” their pay back to the organizations. From second left, New Power Party Legislator Claire Wang, Taipei Social Workers’ Union deputy secretary-general Shen Yao-yi and Kaohsiung Social Worker Association secretary-general Kuo Chih-nan attend a news conference in Taipei yesterday. The Taipei Social Workers’ Union said it has received complaints from employees of branches of the Garden of Hope Foundation saying they are not being given their full salary. Certified social workers who have passed qualifying exams said they only receive an additional NT$2,000, instead of the NT$3,995 the regulations stipulate. She called on the ministry to demand that local governments and private organizations pay more attention to the issue and provide more funding for local governments to improve social workers’ pay.
Source:Taipei Times
March 26, 2021 15:56 UTC
Taiwan, US sign coast guard MOU
Taiwan, US sign coast guard MOUFREE AND OPEN INDO-PACIFIC: The memorandum of understanding would be the basis for the establishment of a joint coast guard working group, Tsai Ing-wen saidBy Lin Chia-nan / Staff reporterTaiwan and the US on Thursday signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to establish a coast guard working group, the first official document inked by the two nations since US President Joe Biden took office in January. Coast Guard Administration Director-General Chou Mei-wu, right, presents American Institute in Taiwan Director Brent Christensen with a model of a coast guard vessel at an event in Taipei yesterday to mark Taiwan and the US signing a memorandum of understanding to establish a coast guard working group. American Institute in Taiwan Managing Director Ingrid Larson, left, and Representative to the US Hsiao Bi-khim in Washington on Thursday hold up a signed memorandum of understanding to establish a Taiwan and US coast guard working group. “This MOU formalizes our already robust and longstanding cooperation with Taiwan’s coast guard,” AIT Director Brent Christensen said, describing Taiwan’s coast guard as “highly versatile in a variety of skills.”Taiwan’s coast guard regularly takes part in training exercises at the US Coast Guard Academy, and it also invites USCG members to visit Taiwan to increase bilateral interactions, CGA Director-General Chou Mei-wu (周美伍) said. The news conference was also attended by Japanese Representative to Taiwan Hiroyasu Izumi, British Representative to Taiwan John Dennis and Canadian Representative to Taiwan Jordan Reeves, as well as other foreign envoys.
Source:Taipei Times
March 26, 2021 15:56 UTC
Taipei 101 operator seeks post-pandemic rebound
A sightseeing bus passes through Taipei’s Xinyi District with Taipei 101 in the background on Sept. 24 last year. Photo: Chuang Shih-hsien, Taipei TimesAlthough the unfavorable effects of the pandemic linger, Taipei 101 is to strengthen its shopping mall operation and maintain full occupancy for its office space in the city’s central business district, where leasing demand is strong with no new space available in the near term, Chang said. The observatory deck previously generated 30 percent of overall revenue, but made a meager contribution last year, she said. The skyscraper’s operator is to spend NT$1.5 billion renovating the complex’s exterior, as well as its shopping area and parking spaces to make them more welcoming, TFCC said. Taipei 101 has been able to raise rents, with upward adjustments reaching 45 percent in some cases, thanks to its landmark status, TFCC said.
Source:Taipei Times
March 26, 2021 15:56 UTC
Statue of girl in rain draws admirers
Statue of girl in rain draws admirersBy Wu Chun-feng and William Hetherington / Staff reporter, with staff writerA statue of a young girl standing in the rain at the Chimei Museum in Tainan has been popular among visitors amid a water shortage that has left water levels low at reservoirs in central and southern Taiwan. The statue, titled Catching Rain, depicts a young girl in a raincoat and boots who is looking up at the sky with her mouth open. The Chimei Museum focuses on Western art and historical artifacts, and has a number of statues in grassed areas outside it, including lining a walkway leading to its main entrance. A woman looks at the Catching Rain statue by US artist Gwen Marcus at the Chimei Museum in Tainan on Monday last week. The bronze statue was created by US artist Gwen Marcus, the museum said.
Source:Taipei Times
March 26, 2021 15:56 UTC