Yunlin police officer is Taiwan's biggest civil servant tax dodger

Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2014-06-06

Chen Yi-chieh, center, reveals a list of civil servants who have evaded
taxes, June 4. (Photo/Yao Zhih-ping)

A police officer in Yunlin county in central Taiwan evaded a whopping NT$46.3 million (US$1.5 million) in tax, the highest amount yet recorded among the country's civil servants. A lawmaker said the officer had violated civil service regulations and that he suspects him of embezzlement, reports our Chinese-language sister paper China Times.

Chen Yi-chieh, a legislator for the minority People First Party, revealed a list of civil servants who have evaded the highest amount of taxes in the country on Wednesday. The officer surnamed Li was found to be running a sand and gravel trading company with his wife between 2001 and 2005 called A Liang Sand and Gravel at the end of 2003. He was arrested by the county police in 2005 for evading a total of NT$46.3 million in taxes, including business tax, and business income taxes in 2006. The following year, Li was given a one-year suspended sentence.

The lawmaker estimated that the officer's income was around NT$200-$300 million (US$66,500-$100,000) a year. Li has been able to continue in his civil service job, however, and will have access to a retirement fund.

The company was reported to authorities in 2008 since it was not registered. The National Taiwan Taxation Bureau has negotiated a deal with the officer. The bureau has collected NT$1.4 million (US$46,600) in back taxes and will obtain the remaining unpaid tax by taking around NT$20,000 (US$665) from Li's salary every month, said Chang Ching-ke, deputy director general of the tax bureau's branch in central Taiwan. In response to Chen's question on why the officer has been able to keep his civil service job, Chang said Li's assets have been confiscated and he has also been banned from leaving the country.

Few of the mid-ranking officer's coworkers knew about his extra income since he wore plainclothes and drove a ten-year-old car. He has now applied for retirement since he will have served 30 years in September.

Another two civil servants who were named the biggest tax evaders by the lawmaker are a staff member in a hospital in Taipei who evaded NT$30 million (US$1 million) in taxes and a person working at a financial institution who left NT$25 million (US$832,000) in tax unpaid.