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Former Directorate-General of Personnel Administration of Executive Yuan, Ching-Sho Chen Meeting the President of AWC, Rene Wadlow to Discuss the Education for Taxation Law Enforcement Personnel
Dr. Rene Wadlow, president of Association of World Citizens, visited professor Chen Ching-Sho, former directorate-general of Personnel Administration of Executive Yuan and professor at the Law School of Soochow University, on December 9 during his human rights watch trip to Taiwan to learn the latest development of human rights protections. Professor Chen shared his concerns about the potential violations of human rights in Taiwan and proposed directions for improvements. Dr. Rene Wadlow praised Professor Chen for his researches in and contributions to the subject of taxpayer's human rights. Rene also expressed that the protection of taxpayer's rights has now becoming an emerging hot topic in western nations due to difficult fiscal conditions in major developed countries. The progress Taiwan has made in this area will not only facilitate the human rights protection in Taiwan but also influence China and other nations around the world.
Pains of victims suffering from abuse of government power to tax pushing reforms to strengthen protection of taxpayer's rights Professor Chen has deep understanding of the progress of the administrative laws in Taiwan . On July 1, 2000 , the administrative court was changed to a two trials in two ranks of court system. The revised Administrative Litigation Law was implemented on September 1 the same year and a new Administrative Procedure Code was put into force on the first day of 2001. The subject was also included in the entrance exam for the judicial personnel. As such we have more research works in this area. Because of the more researches and discussions we have in administrative law, we have laid a good foundation for human rights protection in administrative proceedings.
On the other hand, the concept of protection of taxpayer's rights just started to emerge. According to Professor Chen, taxpayer's human rights have long been ignored because the subject is not being included in the national exam and not much research has been done in this area. This situation has not changed until the Tai Ji Men case which inspired attentions from civil organizations such as Chinese Human Rights Association. The academic circle started to investigate deeper into the subject. Professor Chen thought that “The academic circle has been aggressively pushing more researches in tax laws and regulations. It is hoped that more resources from the government and private sectors will be put into this area as well. In addition, it is very common in Taiwan to have teachings led by exams. So if the tax-related subjects can be added into the curriculum of national exams for judicial officers, we will surely have more researches and progresses.”
Government Should Pay Attention to the Research of Taxation Laws to Correct Concepts of the Law Enforcement Personnel Professor Chen identified major difficulties in promoting taxpayer's human rights. The judges in the administrative courts are transferred from judicial courts with only 3 months of training with even more limited educations in tax laws. It would not come as a surprise to have poor quality of rulings. The quality of the ruling may be improved if the training is lengthened to a year. On the other hand, the exam for tax officer focuses mainly on economics and financial accountings with not enough attentions to finance and tax laws. The on-job training for tax agents is geared to identifying tax evasions. The protection of taxpayer's rights is basically void. The main publications of researches by well-known tax experts are not available in the library of tax administrations. The lack of attention to protection of taxpayer's rights is obvious and everywhere.
Rene asked if a higher ranking governmental organization above tax authority oversees the governance of tax administration. Professor Chen said “A regime research committee within the ministry of finance was held responsible for researching tax regimes. But the committee was shut down due to poor research work. We will not be able to make progress if we do not study and compare different systems to know what we are lacking. The reason for poor quality of research is due to lack of high quality talents. This is a chicken-and-egg cycle. But it definitely is not the fault of the research committee.”
Professor Chen commented that “Most of the high-ranking officers in ministry of finance climb their way up from lower-ranking officers in tax administrations. In German, they have 3 layers of government officers, the elementary, middle ranking and high ranking officers. If you are admitted as high ranking officer, you start out as a high ranking officer and skip the two lower levels. We used to have similar system in Taiwan . The special exam for high-ranking officer only accepts applications from people with Ph.D. degree. The special exam has long been stopped and the Exam Yuan is considering reinstatement. The system aims to bring high talents from private sectors to the public sector and enhance the vision and decision-making of government officers.”
Protection of taxpayer's rights started in Taiwan and spread around the world Rene met with some victims suffering taxation injustices and asked if the lives of the victims are made more difficult by the intentional acts of tax agents? Professor Chen commented “This has more to do with the misconception of tax agents. Sometimes, they are not even aware of it. That's why it is so important to ask the government to comply with the two international covenants on human rights and to have the protection officers of taxpayer's rights established within the system. The efforts by civil organization in advocating protection of taxpayer's rights have caused chief justices to note. The majority of the cases revoked by chief justices are tax-related. So the chief justices have started to safeguard protection of taxpayer's rights.
Dr. Wadlow spoke highly of the effort of Taiwan in promoting protection of taxpayer's rights. The progress Taiwan made in this area will help will set good examples for other Chinese communities even the world to follow. Due to the financial crisis in western nations, fiscal discipline and taxpayer's rights are emerging as a hot topic. Taiwan should take advantage of the emerging trend to work with the external forces to inspire more attentions from government and private sectors. In February and March 2013, when the committee members visit Taiwan to inspect the compliance with two international covenants on human rights, the research results and professional advices will serve important references for the government and the committee members as well.
Oliver Lee, an AWC member also in the meeting, mentioned the endorsement of Declaration of Taxpayer's Rights, jointly declared by Dr. Rene Wadlow and Dr. Hong Tao-Tze, honorary vice president and member of advisory board of AWC, was just concluded in the 13 th International Conference of Chief Justices of the World in India . A total of 112 signers (one head of state, 17 chief justices and 54 judges included) from 53 nations have signed the Declaration and promised to promote protection of taxpayer's rights.
May the taxpayer's rights be safeguarded Rene visited the Heavenly Buddha Temple and he can sense the heart of mercy from the people he met in Taiwan . He hopes the same spirits can be extended to the government so that officers will treat people with a heart of kindness and mercy. Professor Chen said “It has long been a tradition to have politics separated from religions. Because of the separation, traditional Chinese religions such as Buddhism and Taoism have been lacking support from the government. We should have more courses on spirits, religions and faiths in school so that people will know to cultivate kindness and purse spirituality. It works like a person taking oath in the court of law with a palm on the Bible. If people can be guided and bound by the utmost humanity, honesty and integrity, the governance of the government will be completely different. In Germany , government has been supportive of religious and social welfare groups. They even raise taxes to subsidize the operation of churches. This is a win-win situation for the government and for the organization.” At the end, Professor Chen indicated that the protection of taxpayer's rights in Taiwan is like a dry and barren desert. It is hoped that we will jointly irrigate the desert with water of mercy and kindness so that one day the seed of human rights will grow into a big tree to protect shield against burning sun.
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