Department of Finance

Mayor Chiang Wan-an of Taipei City Government (TCG) held an anniversary press conference today to announce his three visions for making Taipei the Capital of safety, sports, and the future. Under the goal of "the Capital of Hope" with Sustainability and Integration", the Department of Finance is committed to implementing fiscal management from the perspective of sound finance to serve the public.

Hu Hsiao-lan, the commissioner of DOF said that the city government has stuck to fiscal discipline and implemented various prone-to-be-sensed policies. The city's self-financing resources amounted to more than NT$110 billion, which takes the highest ratio of the city's revenues compared to the other 5 capital in the past years, and the debt reduction of NT$7.4 billion in 2023 has reduced the actual outstanding balance from NT$89.8 billion to NT$82.4 billion. On the other hand, the debt per capita has been reduced from NT$36,000 to NT$33,000. In addition to utilizing budgetary resources for debt repayment, in November 2023, the city government significantly lowered the interest rate on municipal construction loans by adopting a new contract with the treasury agent bank to reduce the debt burden of the city government.

Commissioner Hu further indicated that the revitalization of city-owned property through encouraging private investment was also the focus of DOF. In March 2012, DOF established a mechanism for integrating the supply and demand of city-owned property, regularly investigating the resources of city-owned land and buildings available for redeployment under the management of various institutions and schools and the demand for official use, and has held 9 meetings on integrating the supply and demand of city-owned property and redeployed 39 buildings. In terms of promoting private participation in public construction investment, 13 investment contracts were signed in 2023, with private investment amounting to more than NT$27 billion, of which the "Construction and Operation of Taipei Information Park and Parking Lot" was honored with the 21st Golden Thumb Award for Private Participation in Public Construction by the Ministry of Finance. In addition, DOF has been actively generating real estate rental income. As of November 30, 2023, the rental income from municipal non-public real estate (including urban renewal and joint development projects) exceeded NT$1.4 billion.

In 2023, the Taipei City Revenue Service Office promoted the "Taxation Video Service Cloud", the first in the nation to have full-featured counter application services uploaded to the cloud, providing as many as 70 items of video services, so that the public can quickly apply for various tax case services without leaving their homes. In addition, the "Kiosk" has been widely installed in 12 administrative districts with automation and digitization to provide upgraded cross-county and city tax data search services of Taipei-New Taipei-Keelung-Taoyuan, saving the waiting time of the public. 

In response to Mayor Chiang Wan-an's vision of being a sports capital, DOF first would adjust the Taipei Arena's public service slot from 60 days to 70 days (with the sports slot increased by 10 days) on January 1, 2024, to promote sports. In addition, on January 1, the Taipei City Secured Small Loans Service office lowered the interest rate for families with special circumstances according to the disadvantaged groups, so that more than 1,000 families with special circumstances in Taipei can also benefit from the program. Looking ahead, DOF will continue to work for the sustainable development of the city and the improvement of the quality of the citizen's life by exercising prudent debt control based on fiscal discipline, and by raising sufficient financial resources to enhance the standard of living and the well-being of the citizens.