Tax the Taiwan way

Despite majority opposition to President Trump’s coveted wall, saving the $5.7 billion cost would scarcely dent record deficits caused partly by Trump’s tax cuts for the rich.

How to cut deficits? Tax the Taiwan way. Besides capital gains tax, each Taiwan securities transaction is assessed 0.3 percent tax. The top income bracket is taxed 45 percent - versus U.S.’s 37 percent (around 25 percent in practice). Transaction taxation seems fairest, assessed only on those sufficiently wealthy to trade stocks for “unearned income” - income from no productive work. But Oregon Democratic U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio’s bill for a much smaller 0.03 percent transaction tax on stocks, bonds and derivatives has languished in the House for almost three years, strongly opposed by Republicans.

Taiwan’s equitable taxation system doesn’t affect its work ethic. Our son, residing in Taiwan and working in over 40 countries worldwide, describes Taiwanese as the hardest working. Additionally, our son has frugally used Taiwan’s single-payer health care, modeled after Canada’s, for two successful surgeries.

Transaction taxation could balance the U.S. budget and fund living-wage jobs for the homeless and unemployed - to repair aging, deteriorating infrastructure, for example. That has some bipartisan support now, although opposed by Republicans whenever proposed by former President Obama.

Norm Luther

Spokane