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Annual conference of Association of World Citizens to report on the status of taxpayer’s rights protections in Taiwan
President of the Association of World Citizens (AWC), Dr. Rene Wadlow, arrived in Taipei on December 5 to start a 10-day journey of human rights watch in Taiwan . On December 6 Rene started his tight schedule. In the morning, he visited lawyer Yiu Chen Su, Incumbent Director of the Chinese Association for Human Rights. Then, he had lunch and exchanged of ideas with Professor Chun-Jie Huang from the Presidential Human Rights Advisory Committee and his keen interests in learning more about the status of enforcing the two international Covenants in Taiwan . After lunch, Rene took part in the 2012 Annual Conference of AWC Taiwan to get a better understanding of the latest development in human rights in Taiwan and shared his personal experiences from years of promoting human rights in the international context.
In the 2012 Annual Conference of AWC Taiwan, members first reported some significant human rights cases happened in Taiwan these years. Ellena Ma, senior reporter working in the media for 20 years, raised many true and sad stories of victims she interviewed. She indicated that although there is an administrative relief system, it is a total failure in Taiwan . Even a lawyer who should know laws very well became a victim. This is one of the injustice tax cases selected from Taiwan 's first White Paper on Taxpayer's Rights. Lawyer Wen-huang Huang, a public interest lawyer requested by the court for liquidation of property eventually received a tax bill of 102 million NT dollars due to be considered as the responsible person of the company by the National Tax Administration. The huge pressure made him want to die. Although human rights groups gave him a hand, this case is not over yet. S eries of seminars, conferences and public hearings for better protection of taxpayer's human rights were pushed by scholars, experts, human rights groups and legislators these years. AWC Taiwan also took part in these movements. But as of now, the officer who oversees the protection of taxpayer's rights is not existent in the government and we don't expect to see one soon in the system. In the chapter of taxpayer's rights protection in the tax code, the Ministry of Finance only made minor modifications to a small article with no real impact on the substance of the law. This is basically a cheat to the general public. “In Taiwan , the Ministry of Finance and tax authorities are giant monsters that even the legislators cannot get hold of.” said Ellena Ma. She also integrated opinions of experts and scholars regarding administrative relief system failure, because many of the administrative law judges do not understand tax laws, and most of their knowledge is from the tax authorities.
Ellena mentioned the only one successful case of relief helped by the Chinese Association for Human Rights. Mr. Yeh, General Manager of a biotech company, accepted the invitation of the government and returned to Taiwan after working 10 years in the Silicon Valley . He became shareholder of a biotech company with his expertise. However, he was taxed for high income tax rates from his technology shares and prohibited from going abroad by the National Tax Administration. As a result, he was separated from his wife and children in the State. He could not get a job in Taiwan either due to his record of tax disputes. Mr. Yeh tries many venues of administrative relief. But he still lost his case in the Highest Administrative Court . The Chinese Association for Human Rights held press conference to make the case known and pleaded to the Control Yuan. After the inquiry from the Control Yuan, tax authorities replied that the case has already exceeded the 5-year recourse period and Mr. Yeh is free to travel abroad. But Mr. Yah has never been notified of the result. However, this still counts as one case of successful story.
Maryann Chuang, member of AWC Taiwan, reported the case of serious human rights violation – the Tai Ji Men tax case. After listening to the case briefing, Rene commented that the Tai Ji Men case was the collections of violations of human rights and was absolutely not tip of the iceberg. He further mentioned that, the link between human rights and tax was very weak and not many people pay attention to this. So the promotion of taxpayer's rights needs efforts from everyone. He gave an example of the rights of indigenous people. Not many people respected it at the first. But after ten-year discussion and efforts from Geneva , America and Canada started to agree to the rights of indigenous people in 1985. And eventually the declaration on the rights of indigenous people was adopted by the United Nations. So the rights of taxpayers are to be earned with hard work. All the efforts we are putting into this project in Taiwan should be made known by the outside world. As a matter of fact, many countries, including Western Europe and the US start to see the rights of taxpayers as an emerging human rights issue. It was even one of the most important topics in the US presidential campaign. In the future, China will face the same issue as well. Rene advocates Taiwan government to respect the rights of taxpayer's and religious and cultural organizations.
There is indeed one successful case of relief helped by Chinese Human Rights Association in Ellena's report. Mr. Yeh returned to Taiwan after 10 years in the Silicon Valley . He set up a biotech company and became shareholder with his expertise. However, he was taxed for high income tax rates and prohibited from going abroad. As a result, he was separated from his wife and children in the State. He could not get a job in Taiwan either due to his record of tax disputes. Mr. Yeh tries many venues of administrative relief. But he still lost his case in the Highest Administrative Court . The Chinese Human Rights Association held press conference to make the case known and pleaded to the Control Yuan. After the inquiry from the Control Yuan, tax authorities replied that the case has already exceeded the 5-year recourse period and Mr. Yeh is free to travel abroad. But Mr. Yah has never been notified of the result. However, this still counts as on case of successful story.
Speaking of restriction on overseas trip, Rene thought of the cold war between the US and Russia . Back then, the Jewish people in Russia who were outstanding scientists had a strong desire to leave for other countries. However, Russia government had restricted freedom of movement into and out of the country. The US threatened to shut down trades with Russia if it would not lift the restriction. Finally, the restriction was lifted. Rene commented that being able to travel freely, both within the nation and outside the country, is the basic human right. The right is especially important in Taiwan where people need to travel overseas regularly for education or for business. Therefore, protecting the rights of free movement is the correct way of government governance.
At the end, Rene expressed that the difficulties we have in the protection of taxpayer's rights in Taiwan highlight the important responsibilities AWC members shoulder. And it is imperative to speak to the world and share what has been done in Taiwan by the private sector. Rene is going to share with international scholars and experts the progress Taiwan made in enhancing protections of taxpayer's rights, and helps deliver the concept of taxpayer's rights all over the world.
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