Military tries to rescue pension fund with servicemen's taxes
ROC Central News Agency
2013/01/01 18:15:07
Taipei, Jan. 1 (CNA) Military personnel had their incomes taxed for the first time ever last year, and some of their tax withholdings have been used to rescue a pension fund for government employees, a military spokesman said Tuesday.
Military servicemen in Taiwan were exempt from paying taxes on their personal income until the exemption was ended on Jan. 1, 2012.
As a result, military personnel had money withheld from their paychecks for tax purposes for the first time last year and will file personal income taxes for the first time in 2013, according to the military.
The withheld taxes were first used to pay for a NT$1,000 increase in the monthly bonus given to the soldiers and officers who volunteered to serve in the military, said military spokesman Luo Shou-he.
The balance of around NT$677 million was transferred to a bank account of the Public Service Pension Fund on Dec. 28 on the Cabinet's instructions, Luo said.
Amid rumors that the pension fund for civil servants, military personnel and public school teachers was on the verge of bankruptcy, Defense Minister Kao Hua-chu said during a hearing at the Legislative Yuan in October that he feared the fund would be forced into bankruptcy by 2018 based on actuarial assessments.
Since then the government has been urged to take measures to improve the fund's financial health and operations.
(By Emmanuelle Tzeng and Elizabeth Hsu)
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