Saturday, October 19, 2002
Taiwanese lawmakers oppose proposed tax on singles
A story published today by the Taipei Times reports that female Taiwanese lawmakers yesterday lined up to blast the interior ministry for its plan to levy tax on unmarried citizens aged 40 and older as part of an attempt to curb the declining birthrate.
The outcry prompted Minister of the Interior Yu Cheng-hsien to explain that the proposal, floated by a demographic scholar, has been rejected by the panel studying measures to encourage people to have more children.
KMT Legislator Yang Chiung-ying panned the "single's tax" as the most grotesque initiative she had ever heard.
"Under the proposal, Vice President Annette Lu, Council of Labor Affairs Chairwoman Chen Chu , and Mainland Affairs Council Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen would all have to pay extra taxes."
Chen Kuan-cheng, a research fellow at Academia Sinica, has suggested imposing a tax on single citizens aged 40 and older who have no hereditary diseases. The revenue could then be used to award people who have children and to sponsor child-care programs, he said.
PFP Legislator Li Yong-ping said the "singles' tax," if implemented, would make a laughingstock out of Taiwan.
Wang Yu-ting, another KMT legislator, said she agreed to the severity of the problem, but believes the ministry is"creatively troublesome" when seeking to tackle it.
"With an aging population, the ministry should focus its attention on planning nursing homes and similar facilities rather than tax reform," she said.
