Taiwan's Luxury Tax on Real Estate Totals US$9B in Three Years

To curb real estate speculation and narrow wealth gap, Taiwan's  Ministry of Finance (MOF) started about three years ago to levy luxury tax on high-end residences  and luxury cars, yachts, jewelry, fur coats, designer furniture, private jets etc.

As of the end of May of this year MOF collected luxury tax totaling NT$9.03323 billion (US$301.11 million) in 16,575 real estate transactions, with per-unit average revenue of NT$545,000 (US$18,167).

To conform to global and rational standards, MOF plans to tax real estate based on actual sale or transaction price instead of officially assessed prices, which are often ludicrously lower than market prices. (JL)