A recent piece at Taiwan Reporter summarized these crisis programs as having high thresholds, offering low levels of subsidies and ignoring part-time workers. Foreigners often complain, rightly, that they are left out of programs that they pay taxes for, but they are hardly alone. I have often speculated, though I have no direct evidence, that the low taxes on the wealthy were Lee Teng-hui’s (李登輝) tacit approach to reducing opposition from the wealthy to Taiwan’s democratization. NATIONAL DEFENSE THREATENEDWith taxes low and evasion widespread, Taiwan’s tax take as a proportion of GDP is extremely low for such a developed country. Notes from Central Taiwan is a column written by long-term resident Michael Turton, who provides incisive commentary informed by three decades of living in and writing about his adoptive country.

Source: Taipei Times August 15, 2021 15:56 UTC