August 4, 2020
The Administrative Enforcement Agency of the Ministry of Justice held the auction of Tai Ji Men’s property in the mountain area in Miaoli, Taiwan on July 31. More than 500 members of Action Alliance to Redress 1219, Alliance for Legal and Tax Reform, and Tai Ji Men Qigong Academy were appealing and protesting in front of the Miaoli branch office of the Administrative Enforcement Agency, claiming such an unjust auction is robbery of the people’s assets. Thirteen years ago, the Supreme Court made a final not guilty decision on the Tai Ji Men case and ruled that there was no tax evasion and no violation of tax codes. The protestors angrily accused the enforcement agency of robbing the people’s property through the unlawful auction.
Legislator Chih-Rong Hsu was on site to express his concern. Some bidders were not allowed to enter the office to watch the bidding process because the enforcement agency claimed that there was limited space. Legislator Hsu considered this an excuse by the agency and suggested protestors to collect the flaws and violations of due process to claim invalid bidding. He will also arrange meetings with his legislative colleagues to discuss the injustices in this case.
Former professor of law at National Taiwan University Chih-Long Chen was also there to extend his helping hand. Professor Chen pointed out that a piece of evidence in the public hearing of the Legislative Yuan on July 16 showed that the Hsinchu Branch of the Administrative Enforcement Agency asked for half of the credit for the upcoming auction back on March 2. It’s appalling that officials already talked about splitting performance bonus knowling clearly that this is an erroneous tax decision. It makes people wonder why such an illegal tax decision has to be enforced without regards to justice and due process.
Tai Ji Men dizi filed a suit against enforcement officer Guei-Fen Li and clerk Ching-You Hong. The lawsuit is the last line of defense. More than 100 legislators have inquired about the Tai Ji Men case. But the Administrative Enforcement Agency insists on enforcing the wrongful decision. Where is justice?
The Tai Ji Men case was ruled by the Supreme Court on July 13, 2007 with final confirmation of no crimes committed and no violations of tax code. The red envelopes from Tai Ji Men dizi to their shifu were gifts and thus were tax-exempt. The aggregated ordering of uniforms was an act of brotherhood and not for profit and zhang-men-ren and his wife were not involved in the ordering, so that was not taxable.
Volunteer attorney for Tai Ji Men, Fu-Chiang Tsai emphasized that the tax decision for 1992 was wrong and unlawful. How can an unlawful tax decision be enforced by the government? The bidding process on July 31 violated many provisions of the open bidding procedures. Objections will be filed against these violations.
Some protestors are young people and some of them are not so young. A huge banner over 300 meters long with inscription “Say No to Fake Case” caught people’s attention. Nearly 100 people holding posters that read “Truth” and “Fake” accused law-bending officials, shouting out “Robbery of the people’s assets for the sake of bonus. What you do today will be reprimanded by Heaven.” At 1:40 pm, the Miaoli branch of the Administrative Enforcement Agency announced that zero valid bidding was collected, while all biddings were invalid.
Photo: Tai Ji Men dizi in protest of the unjust auction of Tai Ji Men’s property in the mountain area in Maili, Taiwan by the Hsinchu Branch of the Administrative Enforcement Agency on July 31.