Tax revenue surges amid boom in stock market
By Crystal Hsu / Staff reporter
Tax revenue surged last month as a stock market boom drove a sharp increase in securities transaction taxes, helping push government tax collections to a record pace in the first eight months of the year.
Tax revenue rose 28.9 percent from a year earlier to NT$198.2 billion (US$6.26 billion) last month, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. Securities transaction tax revenue jumped 94.5 percent to NT$54 billion, its 13th consecutive month of annual growth.
The increase reflects the growing contribution of Taiwan’s buoyant stock market to government coffers, as demand for artificial intelligence (AI)-related stocks has lifted trading activity and generated more tax revenue.
A man stands in front of an electronic stock board at the Taiwan Stock Exchange in Taipei on June 30.
Photo: CNA
Liu Shun-rong (劉訓蓉), Department of Statistics Deputy Director, said the increase was driven by a sharp rise in stock trading activity.
Average daily stock-market turnover reached NT$1.09 trillion last month, nearly doubling from a year earlier, as domestic and overseas investors increased their exposure to local shares benefiting from the AI boom, Liu said.
For the first eight months, average daily turnover climbed 1.7-fold from a year earlier, providing a major boost to securities transaction tax revenue and helping strengthen government finances.
Housing-related tax revenue also improved last month. Property-related income tax revenue rose 33.2 percent from a year earlier, while land value increment tax increased 22.7 percent and deed tax gained 15.3 percent.
Liu said the gains reflected a broad improvement in housing-related tax collections.
However, for the first eight months property-related income tax revenue was still down 1.1 percent from a year earlier, although the decline narrowed significantly.
Not all tax categories benefited from broader economic recovery.
Commodity tax revenue fell 20.2 percent in the first eight months to NT$77.4 billion, Liu said. The decline was mainly due to tax cuts on gasoline and diesel, lower tax collections on imported vehicles and increased tax refunds for newly purchased vehicles.
Total tax revenue for the first eight months reached NT$3.75 trillion, up 25.2 percent from a year earlier. The sharp increase underscores how the stock-market rally, fueled in part by Taiwan’s central role in the global AI supply chain, has become an increasingly important source of government revenue.
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