Taiwan's tax revenue hit a new high last year and exceeded the budgeted amount by NT$495 billion (US$16.3 billion), despite a sharp drop in revenue from stock transaction taxes, the Ministry of Finance (MOF) said Tuesday.
Total tax revenue in 2022 reached NT$3.219 trillion, a year-over-year increase of 12 percent and 118.2 percent of the budgeted amount, MOF data showed.
Chen Yu-feng (???), deputy director-general of the ministry's Department of Statistics, said the higher total tax revenue resulted from record high collection of corporate and personal income taxes, as well as inheritance, tobacco and alcohol, and housing taxes and vehicle license fees.
Profit-seeking enterprise tax revenue, for example, rose by 45.9 percent over 2021 levels to NT$1.024 trillion, driven by a major rise in profits from exchange-listed companies in 2021, Chen said.
Meanwhile, personal income tax revenue rose by 22.6 percent over a year earlier to NT$649.9 billion, while business tax revenue climbed 5.8 percent to NT$528.4 billion, according to Chen.
The government, meanwhile, saw lower-than-expected revenue in 2022 from the securities transaction tax, commodity tax, and land value increment tax.
The largest fall-off was in the securities transaction tax, in which the NT$175.6 billion in revenues in 2022 constituted a NT$99.8 billion, or 36.3 percent drop from a year earlier, Chen said.
Moreover, the factors driving the drop in stock transaction revenue -- including a high base period, the Russia-Ukraine war, high inflation, China's COVID-19 lockdowns, and varying economic factors -- will also make it difficult to project revenue from the tax in 2023, she said.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel