Energy Taxation

      Energy tax is a broad yet complicated topic. From the standpoint of a country, it increases the efficiency of energy usage and enhances sustainable environmental development. Many countries are following up with similar draft or promotion as oil supply decreases while greenhouse effect is getting worse.

      At the end of July 2006, there was a general consensus from the Conference of National Economic Sustainable Development that there must be promotions of energy tax. Under the lead by several legislators with a high sense of environmental consciousness, the draft version by legislators will soon be completed. The Executive Yuan should also fasten its pace, and have the Ministry of Finance study the amount of tax to be levied for an initial version of energy tax according to information offered by the Bureau of Energy.

      Due to the fact that the addition of a new tax might increase cost expenses for companies in related industries, there was a strong opposition as soon as the draft was out, and the Executive Yuan immediately responded more cross-departmental discussions are needed and this version did not represent the view of Executive Yuan.

      As this particular tax has great impact, government and the Legislative Yuan might not be able to come to a consensus in a short period of time. Therefore, when drafting regulations, discussions and studies regarding this issue through different points of view will be useful to the executive units.