LAND VALUE TAX INCREASE ARISES COMPLAINT IN TAICHUNG|台中地價稅上漲 民眾抱怨調幅太高

People in Taichung are pretty unhappy about the rise in land tax. They complain that, without any advance notice, the adjustment in land tax this year was too steep and some were taxed under the general residential property rate when they qualify for the lower rate, which is the ''owner-occupier tax rate'' instead. Land tax has risen steeply over previous years. And people are not happy about it. ==MR. CHEN, member of public== The rise in land tax is too high. A slight adjustment is OK. It's not reasonable to raise land tax too fast, it's just stealing money from the public. Mr. Chen has lived in his house in the Nantun District, now slated for redevelopment, for over 20 years. It is hard for him to accept that his land tax which used to be around NT$20,000 has now risen to NT$90,000. This is because he didn't know that he should use the owner-occupier rate. ==MR. CHEN, member of public== What notice of owner-occupier tax rate? There is no sign of it. I didn't get the notice. The public is angry about the steep rise in the land tax. They complain that they had no advance notice. As a result, they were taxed under the general residential property rate, which is hard for them to accept. The Taichung City Government said that over the past year, it has undertaken screening in each district and borough so that 24,000 households applied for the owner-occupier tax rate, while roughly 15,000 have yet to do so, which means they have to pay more. ==CHANG CHIH-HSIANG, Taichung City Gov. Land Administration Bureau Director== The owner themselves, their spouse, and their direct relatives living in a house where they are registered at that address on the household registration, who does not rent out the property or run a business in it, is entitled to the owner-occupier tax rate. The city government said the general residential property tax rate may be five times higher than the owner-occupier tax rate. The tax rate is calculated each year and change must be applied for by the end of September. It is advised that residents should calculate the tax rate themselves upon receiving the notification to avoid paying too much. TRANSLATED BY：BRYANT CHANG 提到今年地價稅，要比往年多繳好幾倍，民眾的火氣又上來了 ==民眾 陳先生== 調幅太大啦 不要一次漲足 慢慢調才可以吧 你調太快 實在不合理 等於搶百姓的錢吧 陳先生說自己的房子，位在台中南屯重劃區內，住了20多年，不過今年地價稅，從以往的兩萬上下，飆到九萬多，讓他很難接受，而之所以稅率爆漲，就是出在不知道，自己適用自用住宅稅率 ==民眾 陳先生== 哪有通知(適用自用住宅) 沒有啦 它怎麼通知 我都沒接到呀 台中地價稅大漲，也讓民怨悶到最高點，民眾抱怨地價稅不僅調幅太高，而且沒有事先通知，導致今年結算得依「一般住宅稅率」繳納，實在很難接受；市府表示，一年來分區分里篩檢，已有2.4萬戶申請自用住宅，初估台中還有約1.5萬戶未申請變更者，地價稅多繳了。 ==台中市地政局長 張治祥== 地主 本人 或是配偶 或是你的直屬血親 親屬所居住 而且有戶口在裡面 你沒出租 沒營業 這樣就符合(自用住宅)要件了 市府表示，自用住宅稅率跟非自用住宅稅率，兩者相差五倍，在每年九月底要完成申請，提醒民眾接到稅單，還是要自己換算，才不致於讓荷包大失血。 記者 林健生 賴世杰 台中報導