The “grand” legislator who previously threatened to sue the smartphone brand OPPO for trademark infringement continues to “shine” in the halls of parliament today. This legislator has demanded that the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) implement a mandatory “Departure Tax” for citizens traveling abroad for tourism or business starting in 2019. Minister Hochen Tan promised on the spot to provide a feasibility analysis within three months, potentially forcing citizens to pay an extra “recreation fee” to the state whenever they travel or work overseas.
📊 A ‘Divine’ Solution for Negative Growth?
According to domestic media reports, DPP Legislator Chen Ou-po pointed out that Taiwan’s tourism competitiveness ranking has stagnated, while Japan’s has leaped to 4th globally. Therefore, he suggested following Japan’s lead by levying a “Departure Tax,” which is expected to generate an additional 10.6 billion TWD in annual revenue. Minister Hochen Tan stated an evaluation report would be presented within three months.
Interestingly, while the legislator questioned how to address the fact that the inbound market is experiencing negative growth for the first time in 14 years, the solution discussed was a stroke of “divine” logic: “Since we have so many people traveling outbound, let’s just target them.”
Let me translate that into plain language for you:
What to do about negative growth? Simple: find ways to make it harder for our own citizens to leave. Once the deficit shrinks, the numbers will look much better.
As for whether the number of foreign tourists can actually be increased—no one cares! Whether Taiwan’s tourism industry can actually be upgraded—we’ll see about that later! What matters most is that the numbers look good on paper, and the extra tax revenue can be funneled into building those useless light rail projects.
💸 Conclusion: Squeezing Citizens and Misguided Policies
It’s truly strange. If inbound numbers are decreasing, the focus should be on enhancing the value of our tourism industry. Instead, the solution proposed by DPP officials is to find ways to squeeze every cent out of their own citizens’ pockets.
The DPP is truly incomprehensible!
Much like the Fair Trade Commission’s recent attempt to fine Qualcomm over 20 billion TWD—which only resulted in the government losing face—they seem to implement erroneous policies with smug satisfaction without even understanding their own limitations.