Department of Information and Tourism, Taipei City Government

In light of the inequality between the tax rates for regular housing and those for luxury mansions, Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin announced that the city government is contemplating the implementation of a new luxury
housing tax starting 2012 at a press conference this Tuesday (February 2).
The mayor pointed out that there has been a growing number of luxury residential building projects in recent years, leading to steep hikes in costs of home ownership in Taipei. With affordable housing listed
as the top public grievance in a recent Executive Yuan survey, the city government hopes to address the problem through the construction of housings for young people and the collection of luxury housing tax.
According to Hau, the preliminary plan targets high-end residential properties but excludes commercial buildings and villas (which belong to other tax categories).
The definition of luxury residence building will include factors such as the appearance of the building; the location of the building; the view from the building; the number of households per floor; the number of parking spaces; the presence of security staff, and more.
Taipei Revenue Service pointed out that over 11,000 housing units in 269 buildings meets the criteria of luxury housing. Among those affected, 52 buildings are located in Daan District. Likewise, Zhongshan District ranks on top of
the list for the most number of housing units affected (2,073).