Land value tax rises most in Taichung / 今年地價稅全台漲逾三成 中市漲最多　　　　　　　　　　

For those who have received their land value tax bills, the figure might come as a bit of a surprise. On average, announced land value in Taiwan, which is adjusted every three years, has increased 30% this time. As the land value tax is based on announced land value, tax bills this year are expected to be significantly larger for many people. In Taichung, a man who paid NT$160 thousand in land tax last year, is now slapped with a staggering NT$1.33 million bill. Many people received their annual land value tax payment letters and they were shocked! In Taichung, a landowner has three thousand square meters land in Nantun District, last year he paid NT$160,000 land value tax, however, this year, the amount increased to NT$1,300,000! Same thing to Mr. Chen who has lived at his place for over 20 years, his tax amount took a hike to NT$ 90,000! He is a taxi driver and a farmer, he borrowed money to pay his land value tax. ==MR. CHEN, land owner== I can't afford to pay the tax, so I borrowed money and gradually will pay back. It's OK for the government to make slight adjustments, but the amount is six times more this year! ==CHEN SHU-HUA, Taichung City Councilor== He did not speculate lands and he is not a financial group, but he suffers from the tax policy. The current land value increment is 38.25% in Taichung, the highest among the six major cities. The Xitun District has the increment of 101.29%, the highest in Taichung City. ==CHEN CHIN-HSIUNG, Taichung City Local Tax Bureau Dir.== This year we increased the tax amount to the level which it was supposed to be; there is an increase to the current land value tax and the applicable tax rates. These caused a hike in the tax amount due. ==CHEN CHIEN-YUAN, Feng-jia Univ. Dept. of Land Mgmt. Assoc. Prof.== Land value tax was designed in a way to prevent you from owning too many lands. The policy always inclines to market prices. I think land owners are responsible to react accordingly to the tax adjustments. Officials and researchers said, adjusting land value tax every three years can truly reflect current land value. It suits the principles of fairness and justice. However, taxpayers suggest the government should apply progressive tax collections, so taxpayers can fully prepare in advance. TRANSLATED BY：ANTHONY LIN 地價稅開徵！不少民眾收到稅單，臉都綠了！台中市有民眾，在南屯擁有千坪土地，去年地價稅大約16萬，不過今年卻是飆漲到133萬！而同樣是重劃過後的土地，陳先生在這裡住了二十多年，今年地價稅飆到九萬多，開計程車和種田為業的他，得借錢來繳稅。 ==地主 陳先生== 繳不起只好去借錢啊 慢慢還 微調還沒關係 你一次漲六倍耶 ==台中市議員 陳淑華== 那他也沒有投機去炒作土地 也不是財團 可是他卻因此 要為了這樣子而受害 今年台中市公告地價平均漲幅38.25％，是六都第一，其中西屯區的漲幅高達101.29％，全市最高。 ==台中市地方稅務局長 陳進雄== (今年)回復到原來應繳的稅額 再加上我們公告地價的調漲 適用稅率又調漲 才會造成這樣子 ==逢甲大學土管系副教授 陳建元== 土地稅的設計目的 本來就不希望你擁有太多土地 政策一向是朝向往市價前進的話 我想市場上本來應該 地主本身就要去做適當的因應 官方與學者都認為，三年調整一次的地價稅，反映了實價登錄後的土地現值，長遠來看更符合公平正義，不過民眾建議能採漸進式，讓他們能及早準備因應。 記者 林健生 黃千容 賴世杰 台中報導