Finance Minister Chang Sheng-ford says that calls for lowering the stock transaction tax to boost the sagging stock market are not feasible. Chang was speaking Thursday at a press conference.
Chang said that’s because the momentum needed for the economy has been weakened by the volatility of the Chinese stock market, the Greek debt crisis, and Taiwan’s diplomatic inactivity.
Chang said since the government levied a tax on stock transactions more than two decades ago, it has never moved to lower the tax rate.
"It’s been 23 years since the 0.03% tax was put in place in 1992. As you know, we have not used the stocks transaction tax as a tool to [prop up] the stock market over the past 23 years," Chang said. "That’s [despite] the fact that Taiwan went through the Asian financial crisis, SARS, the global financial crisis and the 921 earthquake during that time, when share prices fell to between 4,000 and 5,000 points and the turnover dropped to NT$50 to 60 billion. The stock market is pretty healthy now."
Chang also dismissed the idea of a link between falling share prices and other factors such as the stock gains tax and the 2% supplementary health insurance premium.