Taiwan’s tax revenue in the first eight months of 2021 reached nearly NT$2 trillion, the Ministry of Finance (MOF) said Thursday in a press statement.

Central and local governments collected NT$1.93 trillion (US$68.9 billion) in tax revenue from January to August, representing year-on-year growth of 23.5 percent compared to 2020, the MOF said.

Collected taxes on profit-seeking enterprises and securities transaction as well as business tax, which is incurred following sales of goods and services, accounted for most of the revenue, the MOF said.

From January to August, NT$463.8 billion was collected in corporate income tax, an increase of NT$174 billion, or 60 percent, on the same period last year, the MOF said.

The collection of corporate income tax grew because some business taxpayers were permitted to defer their taxes until this year and listed companies were making a profit and thus contributed more taxes, the MOF said.

In the meantime, the securities transaction tax collected by the authorities during the first eight months of 2021 totaled NT$195.3 billion, double that in the same period of the previous year due to the high trading volume, the MOF said.

In addition, business tax revenue during the same period also grew from NT$273 billion in 2020 to NT$320 billion in 2021 because of an increase in the consumption of imported goods, the MOF said.

However, Taiwan saw a decline in the collection of amusement tax after the government ordered entertainment and recreation businesses to shut down in mid-May following a surge in domestic COVID-19 cases, according to MOF data.

The collection of amusement tax dropped from NT$144 million in May to NT$68 million in June and NT$8 million in July, the data showed.

In August, the authorities collected NT$21 million in amusement tax, a decrease of more than NT$128 million, or 85.6 percent, compared to August last year, the MOF said.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel