Premier Jiang Yi-huah today attended the Academia Sinica's 31st Convocation of Academicians to exchange views on national policy recommendations made by the top research institution. This is the first time a premier has been invited to the convocation since the recommendations were first offered in March 2008.
The nine policy recommendations made by Academia Sinica are:
- Recommendations for Population Policies
- Strategies for Coping with Emerging Infectious Diseases
- Recommendations for Laws for Differentiating Professors and Researchers from Civil Servants
- Responses to Climate Change: Recommendations on Land Use and Management Policies
- Foresight Taiwan: Funding Research for Economic Gains
- Recommendations for Higher Education and Science and Technology Policies
- Recommendations for Agricultural Policy and Related Science and Technology Research
- National Strategies for the Maintenance of Food Safety and the Prevention of Environmental Toxicity
- Tax Reform Proposal
Premier Jiang said the recommendations represent essential advice from the academic sector to the government. He has been studying the policy suggestions since 2011 and has asked various agencies to review them as well. As premier, he often contemplates on ways of improving policies that directly impact the national system and Taiwan's future direction. During his term in office, he has been focusing on policies concerning population, national land, education, industry, social welfare, culture and health care, many of which coincide with the recommendations made by the Academia Sinica.
With regard to the taxation of real estate transactions as mentioned in the Tax Reform Proposal, the premier said the government is moving toward taxing the actual gains from the sale of both the land and the house. This policy will prevent people from avoiding taxes when the two items are taxed separately. It is also expected to bring Taiwan's real estate tax system more in line with the rest of the world.
Premier Jiang said he expects this new tax scheme to draw opposition from real estate developers and speculators. However, it is intended to benefit ordinary homeowners and future generations of homebuyers by curbing unreasonable property prices and providing a fairer property tax system.
The policy should also have complementary measures that protect ordinary homeowners and socially disadvantaged groups, Jiang stressed. For instance, any new rules should not affect those who own only one self-use residential home, those who own several homes but do not use the properties for short-term transactions, or farmers who own land or farmhouses.
The initiative will be a fair and equitable one, Premier Jiang said, and public polls have shown that it receives far more support than opposition. He likened it to an earlier policy to lift the tax rate for non-self-use homes, which met with over 60 percent approval. The premier hopes the tax reform will achieve housing justice and make home ownership possible for more people.
Anticipating challenges in pushing this initiative, the Ministry of Finance (MOF) is planning to hold public hearings and forums for all sectors of society from late July through early August. Jiang directed the MOF to submit related law amendments by the end of the year to the Executive Yuan for deliberation.
Lastly, Jiang expressed gratitude to the scholars of Academia Sinica for contributing their knowledge and expertise to the country's development. He said he often reminds Cabinet members to not only respond to a problem quickly but to prepare for it in advance—that is, not only eliminating what is harmful but promoting what is beneficial. The government can only achieve that end with the support of strong academic research from universities and institutes like Academia Sinica, he acknowledged.