Tax reform committee planning integrated energy tax

The government’s tax reform committee yesterday reached a preliminary consensus to impose an environment and energy levy by integrating 13 existing taxes to help cut greenhouse gas emissions and encourage energy conservation. Deputy Minister of Finance Chang Sheng-ford told reporters after the meeting that the proposed tax would not be a new levy but would integrate different pollution and waste disposal fees, as well as commodity and fuel taxes, into a single levy. Chang said the committee, consisting of government officials, academics and business representatives, backed the government’s target to lower carbon emissions by 25 percent in 10 years. To achieve that aim, Shaw Dai-gee, president of Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research and a committee member, suggested a tax reform plan under which the government would add a green tax to existing gasoline costs each year for the next 10 years. After-tax oil costs in Taiwan stood at NT$20.68 per liter in December, compared with NT$34.50 in South Korea and NT$45.06 in Japan, the report said. Vice Premier Paul Chiu, head of the reform committee, suggested the panel give more thought on whether to tax nuclear energy and how. (June 20, 2009)