DPP blocks plan to halve stock trading tax rate
Written by changthai11 on Sunday, November 9th, 2008
DPP blocks plan to halve stock trading tax rate
TAIPEI, Taiwan — The opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) successfully blocked a proposal of the Executive Yuan (Cabinet) to slash the stock transaction tax rate by half to 0.15 percent from the current 0.3 percent for a period of six months.
The government has decided to cut the stock trading tax rate as one of the measures to help prop up the Taiwan share prices that have been dragged down by plunging international stock markets in recent months.
DPP lawmakers boycotted the bill to revise the existing regulations yesterday, charging the tax breaks will benefit only the wealthy people who have money to bet on the stock market.
The opposition from the DPP effectively shelved the Cabinet plan at least until mid-December, after the end of the one-month period for further consultations among political parties on the more controversial legislative plans.
Sexual harassment
Members of the Legislative Yuan managed to pass revisions of several other sets of regulations.
Lawmakers ratified the change in the rules against sexual harassment to mete out stiffer fines for employers who fail to fulfill the obligation of preventing sexual harassment at the workplace.
The current fines between NT$10,000 and NT$100,000 will be raised to NT$100,000 to NT$500,000.
Officials at the Council of Labor Affairs said the rules apply to employers who hire a workforce of more than 30 people but fail to adopt measures, including publicizing the anti-harassment regulations, setting complaint and appeals channels, and effective intervention.
Taiwan Financial Holding
Legislators approved the statute governing the operations of the government-owned Taiwan Financial Holding Co., the firm organized mainly with the integration of other state-owned financial institutions into the Bank of Taiwan.
The government will hold at least a 90 percent stake in the holding company.
Among the 13 board directors, there should be at least two independent directors or no less than one-fifth of the total number of the board members. Under the rules, there should be no more than two directors who hold foreign nationalities or dual nationalities.
The lawmakers also adopted a resolution asking the executive branch not to include the Land Bank and the Export-Import Bank into Taiwan Financial Holding.
They said Eximbank has its unique financial service while the Land Bank has business and services overlapping with those of Taiwan Financial Holding.
Barrier-free facilities
The Legislative Yuan passed an amendment to the Public Officials Election and Recall Act requiring that polling stations be fitted with barrier-free facilities so that physically challenged citizens can exercise their right to vote.
In areas without a venue that meets the requirement, electoral authorities must provide relevant assistance devices or equipment to help voters with mobility problems to cast their ballots.
There are presently a total 1.02 million disabled people in Taiwan and 920,000 of them are eligible voters.
In addition, there are a large number of senior citizens with mobility problems who need assistance in casting their votes, said Legislator Shyu Jong-shyong of the ruling Kuomintang, a leading sponsor of the bill.
An inspection conducted by the Eden Social Welfare Foundation and the League of Welfare Organizations for the Disabled during the Jan. 12 legislative elections this year showed that 16 out of the 53 polling stations examined were difficult for the disabled to access.
Gun snatching
Another rule revision by the lawmakers will sharply increase the sentences by a maximum of 50 percent for convicted perpetrators who seize guns or other weapons from law enforcement agents, including police officers, investigation agents, members of the military police and coast guard.
The existing rules levy a sentence of at least seven years of imprisonment plus a maximum fine of NT$30 million.
Saturday, November 8, 2008 10:08 am TWN, The China Post news staff
