109年10月30日
Experts and scholars urge the government to stop state violence and shape peace for Taiwan's legal and tax environment
The United Nations designated September 21 as the International Day of Peace--24 hours of non-violence and cease-fire, and all countries and peoples are urged to cease hostilities on this day. However, two days earlier, on September 19, Ms. Huang, a volunteer for the Legal and Tax Reform League, was randomly arrested by the police and charged with multiple crimes simply because she showed her support for the redress of the fabricated Tai Ji Men case. The arrest seriously violated her freedom of speech and personal freedom and aroused concern from all walks of life. On September 21, nearly 30 civil society organizations co-organized a forum titled “Stopping State Violence, Shaping Peace for Taiwan’s Legal and Tax Environment,” which was part of a forum series “True Legal and Tax Reform: Saving Taiwan with Conscience," in the International Conference Hall in National Taiwan University Hospital. The participants called on President Tsai Ing-wen, Premier Su Tseng-chang, and Control Yuan President Chen Chu to listen to the public, sincerely care about the people, stop state violence, and shape peace together for Taiwan's legal and tax environment!
Observing the International Day of Peace: Creating a free and democractic society adhering to the rule of law
Dr. Rene Wadlow, the president of the Association of World Citizens (AWC), the forum organizer, said that any level of violence among families, communities, and continents is unacceptable. Therefore, the AWC commends the UN’s efforts to highlight the importance of the International Day of Peace. The AWC is committed to fostering a spirit of cooperation and taking action for a peaceful world and harmonious society. Dr. Hong, Tao-Tze, the vice president of AWC and leader of Tai Ji Men, delivered his welcome remarks, emphasizing, “It is stated in the preamble to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that ‘the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world.’ Without human rights, there will be no freedom, justice or peace. In a democratic nation, the majority of human rights abuses come from the government. The embedded structural violence in political, economic, judicial, tax and cultural systems have caused political persecution, wealth inequality, discrimination based on religion, belief, or cutlure, as well as social injustice.” “As we shape peace for Taiwan’s legal and tax environment, let’s all look inward to reflect upon ourselves and look outward with love and conscience to resolve conflicts. No love, no peace. Peace needs love and love needs to be balanced. Let’s protect the love and conscience in our hearts to create a world of harmony, peace, stability, truth, kindness and beautifulness,” added Dr. Hong.
Randomly Arresting People on the Streets—Prosecutors and Police Jointly Creating White Terror?
Did another era of white terror just begin? On the evening of September 19, Ms. Huang, a nearly 60-year-old volunteer for tax reform, showed her support for the redress of a false case. While she was about to go home after holding a protest sign on the roadside, she was interrogated by police officers in Hsinchu. After getting her personal information, the police officers left. Then the police received a mysterious call and came back to arrest her. The police put in Ms. Huang’s hands a poster with the name “Lee Gui-fen” on it. The police claimed to catch her in an active crime and took her to the police station without telling her what crime she had committed. The police even insisted on transferring her to a district prosecutor's office in the middle of the night for investigation. Ms. Huang was charged with multiple counts. She was not released until one o'clock the following morning and an order of restriction of residence was even imposed on her. After being detained for eight hours, Ms. Huang fainted and was rushed to the hospital shortly after she was released. The doctor diagnosed her with post-traumatic stress syndrome.
At the beginning of the forum, a video recording of this “September 19 Incident” (https://youtu.be/BqCbBnOgM58) was played and experts and scholars condemned the government for allowing the prosecutors to join forces with the police to create the White Terror and making Taiwan backslide to the period of martial law 30 years ago.
The moderator of the forum, Cheng Chung-mo, a former justice and vice-president of the Judicial Yuan, said that on September 19, he watched the live broadcast of the incident until 3 or 4 in the morning and saw the police behave rudely and violating the law. Knowing that Professor Chen Tze-lung and the volunteers were still defending human rights in front of the police station until 4:00 am, he felt sad and touched.
Attorney Su Huan-chih, former mayor of Tainan County, said that the most basic human rights are being violated. After decades of hard work, Taiwan’s democracy, politics, and human rights are still stuck in the martial law period 30 years ago. He also made the following comments: It’s not easy for Tai Ji Men to uphold its belief, and its spirit to pursue fairness and justice for 24 years is truly remarkable! It takes a steadfast willpower to make justice prevail! He pointed out that in the past, administrative enforcement was enforced by the financial division of the civil court, and there was no bonus. Now the Administrative Enforcement Agencies act as both the players and referees. They also expressly stipulate that there are bonuses, which have made the Enforcement Agencies more and more efficient, and able to collect so many taxes. He said that the September 19 Incident reminded people to consider abolishing the Administrative Enforcement Agencies and giving the authority to enforce back to the financial division of the court. Only by abolishing the bonus for executing the enforcement orders can taxpayer’s human rights be protected.
According to Liu Cheng-wu, vice chairman of the Taiwan Victim Human Rights Association, Article 311 of the Criminal Law stipulates that people who make statements in good faith and under one of the following circumstances will not be punished: 1. Those who defend themselves, debate for themselves, or protect legitimate interests. 2. A civil servant performing his duties. 3. Making comments on matters that are subject to public opinion. 4. Recitations of records of central and local meetings, courts, or public gatherings. Therefore, no penalty should be imposed on Ms. Huang, who made a proper comment on a matter that is open to public comment.
Lawyer Sean Chen, a senior partner of HW Attorneys-at-Law, was very angry when he saw the video recording of the September 19 Incident, which may be mistaken as an incident in the period of martial law. He said it is unimaginable that the police would take away a person exercising her right to freedom of speech and claim that they caught her in an active crime. He mentioned that when he was a child, student movements were sprouting. He also made the following comments: The Wild Lily student movement scolded the Congress and former President Lee, but they were not taken away by the police. In the Sunflower Movement, those who scolded the government were not taken away by the police. Mr. Ke Tsi-hai protested everywhere; nor was he taken away by the police. That is what made Taiwan so precious. That is the process of democracy! Lawyer Chen believes that state power should be monitored, because state power has guns, powers, and budgets. It has great power, so it needs to be monitored under the most stringent standards. There must be the greatest guarantee and the greatest tolerance for the people as they monitor the government. He condemned the government’s handling of the September 19 Incident and asked everyone to support Ms. Huang!
Lian Fu-long, a professor from Osnabrück University in Germany and staying in Taiwan, believes that the arrest of Ms. Huang was planned in advance. He also made the following comments: The purpose of the arrest was to scare Tai Ji Men, but in fact, it is absolutely impossible to scare Tai Ji Men. Since 2009, Taiwan has incorporated the ICCPR and ICESCR into its domestic law. The police are public servants, but they are oppressing three of people’s most basic rights: 1.The right to resist. When the people are persecuted by the government, they have the right to resist. 2. The right to demand the government to protect people's dignity, life, and property rights. 3. The right to participate in society, economy, culture, and politics. When the three rights of the people are violated by the government, they can no longer remain silent. Even Su Chien-ho, who had been sentenced to death, was saved. Tai Ji Men has won its case, but why was its property confiscated? For a fine of NTD$18,000, the Administrative Enforcement Agency could sell a person’s house valued at NTD$2.5 million. Now, the police could put someone in custody only because she held a protest sign. It is already lawless in Taiwan! Professor Lian called on the National Police Agency to be brave and fair to demote and transfer those police officers who violated the people’s human rights.
Miss Huang, a nurse and volunteer from the Legal and Tax Reform League, expressed her anger and sorrow over the September 19 Incident. She said, “A person holding a sign with questions on it was arrested. If this was not state violence, what is?” From the perspective of a registered nurse, she said, “Taiwan’s legal and tax systems are in a very poor shape. According to Dr. Chen Tze-lung, former professor of law at National Taiwan University, corrupt officials are like cancerous cells of the country.” Miss Huang believes that these cancerous cells are negatively affecting every citizen of Taiwan just as deadly as the coronavirus, which has spread rapidly. “In 2019, there were 11.04 million new enforcement cases of back taxes and fees in Taiwan. In 2020, from January to August, there were more than 11.7 million such cases. According to this rate, there will be about 20 million cases by the end of the year. The whole country will be ruined, and the damage will be out of control. So if we don’t reform the country’s legal and tax systems, the country will soon come to an end!" she added.
Administration according to Law? State violence? Experts and scholars reveal officials' lies
Tsai, Fu-chiang, a volunteer defense lawyer for the Tai Ji Men case, explained some key points in the Tai Ji Men tax case. Tai Ji Men was prosecuted in 1997. While the nature of the income involved in the case was not yet determined by the criminal court, the National Taxation Bureau (NTB) already issued tax bills to Tai Ji Men based on the indictment. In 2009, the Control Yuan’s investigation report mentioned that the NTB failed to verify and investigate the nature and amount of the income, and abused its power to issue illegal tax bills. The inter-ministerial meeting resolution of the Executive Yuan in 2011 stated that the Tai Ji Men tax case should be handled according to the investigation results of the public survey. One hundred percent of the written responses to the survey indicated that the money was a gift and there was no tax issue, but the National Taxation Bureau, ignoring the survey results and the meeting resolution, continued issuing illegal tax bills to Tai Ji Men. In 2018, the Supreme Administrative Court Judgment No. 422 directly identified Tai Ji Men as a menpai (similar to school) of qigong, martial arts and self-cultivation. The NTB’s taxing Tai Ji Men as a cram school was disapproved by the court. In 2019 the NTB finally followed the law and corrected the taxes for the monetary gifts to zero for five years (1991,1993,1994,1995, and 1996). However, it refused to correct the tax bill for the monetary gifts for 1992. The Administrative Enforcement Agency clearly knew that it was an unjust case, but Tai Ji Men’s land was still auctioned illegally. In the Su Chien-ho case, Su Chien-ho, who had been wrongfully sentenced to death, was saved. In another case, Chiang Guo-Ching was also wrongfully sentenced to death, but unfortunately, he was executed. Afterwards, realizing its mistake, the government used tax dollars to compensate his family. In the Tai Ji Men case, the Administrative Enforcement Agency auctioned Tai Ji Men’s property based on a wrong court decision. Isn't that 100% state violence?
Attorney Su You-chen, a member of the Chinese Association for Human Rights, made the following comments: The evidence used by the Administrative Enforcement Agency for seizing and auctioning Tai Ji Men’s land was the Supreme Administrative Court’s judgment in 2006 on Tai Ji Men’s comprehensive income tax bill for 1992. This judgment was in violation of substantive justice. The evidence discovered after the judgment was made and the Supreme Administrative Court’s Judgment No. 422 in 2018 showed that Tai Ji Men has never been a cram school, and there was no so-called labor income issue. There was a big error in the tax treatment. The National Taxation Bureau had corrected the taxes to zero for five years. It can be said that it was admitting its mistake. Only the tax bill for 1992 was not corrected. Why would the Administrative Enforcement Agency take such a big risk of being sued and insist on enforcing the illegal tax bill for 1992? Attorney Su questioned whether these judges and officers who broke the law had betrayed their original intention of studying the law? He hopes the courts would conduct self-correction, protect innocent citizens, and ease people’s anxiety.
Judge Chao Tze-Rong in Taipei District Court said that in the Su Chien-ho case, the wrongfully convicted person could also be executed according to the law, but he wasn’t because executing him would be unjust. Judge Chao also made the following comments: Officials from the Ministry of Justice said they auctioned Tai Ji Men’s property according to law, but only on the surface. Tai Ji Men’s comprehensive income tax bill for 1992 was determined by the administrative court, but the criminal court decision was made after the judgment of the administrative court had been issued. (Reporter’s Note: The criminal judgment determined that the monetary gifts in the form of red envelopes offered by Tai Ji Men dizi (similar to students) to their shifu (master) were gifts, and they were tax exempt according to Article 4, Section 17 of the Income Tax Act). Later, the tax bills for 1991, 1993, 1994, 1995 and1996 were corrected to zero. With all the new facts discovered, we found something very absurd: the court decision on Tai Ji Men’s comprehensive income tax for 1992 was problematic. Since it was a wrong judgment, the Administrative Enforcement Agency should not have enforced it! Bonuses and greed lead to selfishness. Criminal judgments in the judicial system are subject to extraordinary appeals, but civil judgments and administrative court judgments are subject to retrials. From the judgment on Tai Ji Men’s case, we have seen the problems in the retrial system. What happened to Tai Ji Men can happen to other taxpayers.
Ni Bo-huang, an assistant professor of public finance at China University of Technology, made the following comments: The NTB said that because the judgment was final, it must be enforced. However, since this final judgment was wrong, it should not have been executed. In fact, the Supreme Court’s decision (third-instance criminal judgment) on July 13, 2007 determined that Tai Ji Men was not guilty of tax evasion or violation of the tax code. This has been the real final judgment and the NTB should have taken the initiative to revoke the illegal tax bills. Moreover, the NTB shouldn’t have issued illegal tax bills to Tai Ji Men in the very beginning. The NTB knew that in the criminal indictment Prosecutor Hou fabricated the income of Tai Ji Men. The prosecutor claimed that the money was obtained by fraud and requested the court to confiscate it according to law. He also alleged that the income was tuition and business income of a cram school and transferred the case to the NTB for taxation. These two claims about the income contradicted each other. They could not co-exist. According to Article 177 of the Administrative Litigation Act, the NTB should have waited for the judgment of the criminal case to determine the nature of the income. However, the NTB did not wait for the judgment and imposed heavy taxes and penalties on Tai Ji Men based on the indictment. Chen Ying-chin, the deputy general-director of the Administrative Enforcement Agency, leaked the auction information of Tai Ji Men’s land and the personal information of Tai Ji Men’s leader to the media before the auction, which violated the Personal Information Protection Act. In addition, Tai Ji Men was still in the legal process of disagreeing with the auction order. Forcibly auctioning the land was indeed robbery. These officials who violated the law should be punished pursuant to law!
Mr. Lin, the senior vice president of a public listed company, asked, "Is Taiwan a real democracy?" He said, “Democracy is based on the rule of law, human rights and freedom. Only true democracy could bring true peace!” He shared the observations of the well-known political commentator Stephen Shiu Yeuk-yuen on the fabricated Tai Ji Men case and pointed out that Taiwan's laws were outdated and incompatible with modern democracy and the rule of law. Double jeopardy represents a very important spirit of democracy and the rule of law. In the Tai Ji Men case, after the administrative court ruled against NTB, the decision should have been final; however, it was not as the court asked the NTB to make another appropriate decision on the case. This violated the spirit of double jeopardy and created never-ending tax bills as the NTB was allowed to issue another tax bill for a case that it lost. This practice has been bullying the people and seriously violated their basic human rights.
Kao, Su-po, chairman of the Chinese Association for Human Rights, said that many revolutions in the world were related to law and taxation, such as the American Revolution and the French Revolution. As Professor Chen Tze-lung said, Taiwan’s law and taxation still stay in the era of martial law. He urged everybody to take the Tai Ji Men case as an opportunity and driving force for promoting major reforms for themselves and the society.