Republic of China - Taiwan

American Journal of Economics and Sociology, The, Dec, 2000 by Alven H.S. Lam

In the early 1990s, a social movement arose demanding a "Second Land Reform" to close the loopholes in the existing regulations. Although it was active for several years, it was unable to overcome the landed interests' stranglehold on the government--as evidenced by the sacking of a cabinet minister who proposed an increase in the land-value tax.

However, the political landscape changed radically in March 2000, when the ailing Kuomintang was defeated in a national election, marking its first time out of power in the half-century since Chiang and his forces had withdrawn to Taiwan from the Mainland. It is too soon to tell whether the new administration, led by President Chen Shui-bian, will revive and effectuate the Second Land Reform, but the situation is not without grounds for optimism.

Alven H. S. Lam, a specialist in urban and regional design, is advisor to the US-China Housing Initiative, Office of Policy Development and Research, US Department of Housing and Urban Development, and has been dean of the Land Reform Training Institute, Taiwan. He contributed Chapter 19, "Republic of China (Taiwan)" (pp. 327-336).

(*.) Alven H. S. Lam, a specialist in urban and regional design, holds a doctorate from Harvard University. He is advisor to the US-china Housing Initiative, Office of Policy Development and Research, US Department of Housing and Urban Development, and a fellow and faculty member of the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, Cambridge, MA. He has served as dean of the Land-Reform Training Institute, Taiwan, as a policy advisor and project coordinator for various government agencies in Taiwan, as a land policy specialist for the US Agency for International Development, and as a consultant to the US Environmental Protection Agency. He is author of some 15 monographs, book chapters, articles, and working papers, including "The Impact of Urban Landscape on Urban Land value" (1988), "Geographic Information Systems in the context of Land Use Policy" (1990), and "Policies and Mechanisms on Land Value capture in Asia" (1997).

Notes

(1.) The Republic (Chicago), April 12, 1912, p. 349.

(2.) The city taxes and municipal taxes discussed here are levied from two different levels of governments. The two major cities, Taipei and Kaoshiung, are cities at the provincial level which is under the central government's jurisdiction. Their taxes are in the category of provincial and city taxes. Other local level governments are called prefectures or municipalities which are under provincial government's jurisdiction. Their taxes are in the category of prefectural and municipal taxes.

                       PROPERTY TAX AND PREFECTURAL
                          AND MUNICIPAL REVENUES
                           (Unit: NT$ Billions)
Total Revenue              LVT               LVIT             House Tax
                      %            %    %            %    %               %
   Fiscal     Amount Inc. Amount  of   Inc. Amount  of   Inc.  Amount    of
    Year      (NTSB) Yr.  (NTSB) Total Yr.  (NTSB) Total Yr.   (NTSB)   Total
    1985       77.5        10.9  14.4        34.1  45.2         18.8    25.5
    1990      143.6  18.0  22.6  15.7  21.5  82.9  57.8  28.6   27.4    19.1
    1995      257.2  15.8  38.2  14.9  13.8 155.3  60.4  17.5   40.2    15.6
Total Revenue
               %
   Fiscal     Inc.
    Year      Yr.
    1985
    1990      9.1
    1995      9.3
NT$: New Taiwan Dollars: US$1 was
approximately equal to NT$27.5 in 1995
LVT: Land Value Tax
LVIT: Land Value Increment Tax
Source: Yearbook of Tax Statistics,
Republic of China, Ministry of Finance, 1996