February 24, 2021
The overall inspection of tax and legal at the end of year Gengzi- take the 228 Incident in taxation-Tai Ji Men case for example
One person’s fault puts the whole country at risk. Fight the virus of rule of law with conscience
Who’s the number one enemy of the world in the year Gengzi? COVID-19. As of today, more than 100 million people have been infected and more than 2.31 million people have died from COVID-19 globally. May the deceased rest in peace, the world will fight the pandemic together. Everybody acts according to his/her conscience, world peace will become a reality
Facing COVID-19, human beings have gone from negligence to panic, thinking that the small virus has nothing to do with them, and didn’t expect the virus is very cunning. It’s good at lurking, disguising, and mutating. It has caused lockdowns, lockdowns of the country, severe economic stagnation. The global leaders regretted that they missed the best time to prevent the outbreak of the pandemic. The most dangerous thing of the virus is invading the human body and causing cytokine storm. Although the virus is very small, it’s very close to us. If one person coughs, everyone around them will be alert. There is another type of virus that’s very dangerous, but everyone has neglected it. The virus of violation of rule of law is seriously harming the democracy.
One Person’s fault. The government becomes the production machine of unjust cases
If a prosecutor made a mistake, how much harm can it cause? In 1996 the case of illegal operation of video arcades by Jen-Shen Chou, Kuan-jen Hou prosecuted as many as 197 policemen. At the time, the press had a field day with the case, and it was considered the largest corruption case of police in Taiwanese history.
Kuan-jen Hou earned the nickname “Judicial Rambo” from the media. He often investigates cases through the media, but he has some unknown method to people. Kuan-jen Hou often handle the case by “detaining people to obtain confessions”. According to the senior police officer, Chen Yanmin, he told the judge in the court that other defendants were in poor physical condition and were encouraged to “accuse” him (Chen Yanmin) and be granted medical parole. What’s even more surprise to the trial judge was that the prosecutor dared to make the illegal process in the report.
The illegal video arcade case was in litigation for 24 years. 197 defendants were prosecuted, and many of them were found not guilty. Among the 38 prosecuted officers and policemen, only 8 people were found guilty. Kuan-jen Hou alone caused a major earthquake in the police force. Many of them were the stars of tomorrow in police force, and four of the three-star and above police officers were all found not guilty. However, their future was completely ruined. Regrettably, within three months after initiated the investigation, four officers and policemen committed suicide. Many people’s innocence and reputation are impossible to restore. Many of them got divorced, stayed unemployment and had miserable lives after.
If prosecutors who hold public power violate the rule of law, aren’t they unjust case makers?
Because of one person disaster, Taiwan became a ghost island.
In 1996, Tai Ji Men was accused by anonymity without evidence and investigation due to the cracking down on religion. Both Kaohsiung and Hsinchu District Procurator Office found nothing unlawful during the investigation. On December 19th, 1996, Prosecutor Kuan-jen Hou led hundreds of police officers, who carried weapons, to search all chapters of the Tai Ji Men Qigong Academy, which violated the principle of protection of double jeopardy. Principle of secret investigation became investigation in public. He even accepted the TV show interview, claiming that he could solve the case only by starring at the eyes.
In April 2010, Yung-Fu Tzeng, Minister of Justice, accepted the interrogatory for the first time. The interview video which the toastmaster was asking how Kuan-jen Hou knew the academy fostered ghost was played in the Congress. Chiou-Jin Tian, the current Control Yuan commissioner and the legislator at that time, interrogated that “in the training of our Judicial personnel, is there an instruction manual about fostering ghost? How could you determine a person is fostering ghosts?” Chiou-Jin Tian mentioned that if our country is able to prosecute an organization consists with thousands of people without evidence, then the individual person who has limited resource is more danger and has no security. “If you were accused of fostering ghosts by your eyes as Kuan-jen Hou said, then Taiwan is restless.” Taiwan has become a ghost island in a short period.
The Judicial System is Contaminated with a Virus. Justice of judicial system is all gone
Prosecutor Hou violated the law, abused power, created false cases against innocent civilians, and even uses criminal crimes and tax violation with the intent of demolishing Tai Ji Men Qigong Academy. With only six days before the deadline, Prosecutor Hou has yet to find any criminal evidence against Tai Ji Men. He called Yue-Sheng, Shi, who was a staff at the Taiwanese Tax Bureau at the time, to testify for him. However, Yue-Sheng Shi has never been to Tai Ji Men Qigong Academy and did not conduct any actual investigations against them. He claimed that Tai Ji Men Qigong Academy was a cram school and suspected them of tax evasion. Prosecutor Hou did not ask for any litigants’ opinions on the testimony. Instead, he only took Shi’s testimony as the only evidence for tax evasion. Furthermore, Prosecutor Hou illegally transferred the evidence to the Tax Bureau and considered Tai Ji Men Qigong Academy as a cram school. Hou also issued tremendous taxes from 1991 to 1996 to Tai Ji Men.
According to the case number 0912600349, a report from the investigation of the Ombudsman Branch, Hou’s investigation of the Tai Ji Men case involved numerous violations of the Criminal Procedure Law. It included violations of undisclosed investigations, illegal searches and freezing of assets, infringement of judicial prestige, and more. Moreover, it severely infringed the rights of the defendant and harmed the prosecutor’s image of fair law enforcement. Because of this, the case was transferred to the Ministry of Justice for a strict investigation. This revealed that the indictment was inconsistent with the evidence it provided, and the prosecution did not conform to the laws of evidence. During the investigation process, Prosecutor Hou admitted that he never conducted a detailed investigation beforehand. Additionally, he also said that he has ordered the Ministry of the Interior, the county and the city government to cut off Tai Ji Men Qigong Academy's water and electricity supply. Based off of the hand-written letter by Hou, all of the real estates under the head of Tai Ji Men were seized. He also admitted that the list of the "victims" had not been verified and were prosecuted hastily. Prosecutor Hou has to be punished and the illegal tax bill issued by the indictment alone must be revoked according to law.
Court Decisions must be accounted for in the directives of government agencies
By the year 2007, it had already been ruled three times in court that the organization of Tai Ji Men was under no obligation to pay income tax for monetary gifts to Dr. Hong Tao Tzu, as stated by Article 4, paragraph 17 of the Taiwanese Income Tax Law. This clause also claimed that students within an organization make no profit when paying for each other’s basic necessities, making it non-taxable. Since then, the government has compensated Tai Ji Men defendants unjustly detained in the original jurisdiction, issuing reparations in 2009. This action from the government clearly shows that the issue of taxation on Tai Ji Men has been settled, at least in the government.
According to Yan Qing zhang, former finance minister and Ambassador for the World Trade Organization, Taiwanese government agencies have no reason to ignore the jurisdiction ruled for Tai Ji Men in court. In the light of this ruling, the continued decision of government tax agencies to demand tax money from Tai Ji Men without referring to court decisions is clearly illegal, and should be revoked immediately.
The accusations against Tai Ji Men are not solid evidence to support tax payment. However, the IRS saw these accusations from Hou Kuan-jen as a “sacred decree”, continuing to issue tax bills based on these accusations, despite it being ruled out by the court. Experts and scholars have called upon the directives of government agencies to revoke the tax bill that was issued upon Tai Ji Men in accordance with Article 117 of the Taiwanese Administrative Procedure Law. Taijimen’s unjust tax case is a simple problem to fix, but with such a huge labor cost, it has been delayed for 25 years. Cases such as these, that should not exist, have resulted in thousands of legal issues. What is even sadder about this situation is that the administrative court made another lawful sanction and judgement, resulting in constant tax bills with no end in sight.
Not following the law, unscrupulous government officials harms people for their will
Taiwan with its separation of five government powers, so the Ministry of Finance and the NTB should not be overpowered. The Ministry of Education, which is the competent authority for cram schools, specifically indicated in No. 860115257 Circular of October 29, 1997 that Tai Ji Men Qigong Academy is different from the objectives of short-term cram schools.
MOE Tai 88 Shih One Tzu No. 88157969 Circular of December 24, 1999 as follows: "Tai Ji Men is not a cram school."
During a public hearing in the Legislative Yuan on December 21, 2000, while Sheng-ford Chang, the Director-General of the NTB of Taipei at that time, was also present, Wen-chang Tseng, a director from the Ministry of Education, remarked: “We would still like to stress that Tai Ji Men is indeed not a cram school.”
Legislator Shou-chung Ting questioned the NTB: "Under the condition of collecting taxes to meet fiscal shortfall, can we simply set aside due process and justified legal basis just to achieve that objective?"
Legislator Li-lun Chu remarked that the justice and truth about the Tai Ji Men matter are quite obvious today. The NTB cause such tremendous tax collection cost and social cost for tributes paid to a Shifu as part of the inherent Chinese ethic and culture. It is really something quite insignificant.
In the public hearing at legislative Yuan on June 17, 2010 the legislator Hsing-Chih Tu stated that Tai Ji Men case was so serious that it could shake the foundations of the five yuan’s and the nation. He urged the Ministry of Finance to calculate the social cost and the salaries of civil servants which have been wasted in this case. All agencies affiliated with the Executive Yuan should shoulder their own responsibilities without wasting the resources of this nation.
On October 21, 2010, Legislator Ting-fei Chen specifically asked why gift tax issues concerning Tai Ji Men, which should be continuous and consistent, only arose during 1990 through 1996, while Tai Ji Men did not have any tax issue during 1966 through 1990 and during 1997 through 2010. The Ministry of Education has specifically indicated that Tai Ji Men is not a cram school, and criminal court decisions and Supreme Administrative Court decisions and the Control Yuan's findings all suggest that the red envelopes are actually gifts not cram school tuitions. We should help Tai Ji Men in aspects favorable to them, since the entire tax collection is unfair and is not based on any criteria. As of 2020, there are over 300 legislators have jointly endorsed statement and petition repeatedly, conducted interpellation, held press conference, public hearing, or coordination accusing the illegal actions of NTB, and demanded the NTB to set aside illegal tax dispositions.
Virus Rule of Law, Taiwan is stigmatized to be a Kleptocracy country
August 21, 2020 was the darkest day of rule of law in Taiwan. That day, the Hsinchu Branch of the enforcement Agency illegally auctioned 50 pieces of lands belong to TJM in Miaoli Mountain area. The lands were passed-in at auction twice and were taken over by the Nation. TJM did not owe any taxes but TJM properties were illegally auctioned. Scholars severely criticized that Taiwan has turned into a Kleptocracy country. This incident has evolved into a human right persecution that shocked the world. It has raised numerous discussions from around the world.
Julia Su, the host of the Court of an online program, interviewed with lawyer Fu-Chiang Tsai and revealed many secrets. A judge from the Taipei High Administrative Court found out that when handling the TJM case, the National Taxation Bureau applied inconsistent standards: they issued 6 years of tax bills and 5 of them have been corrected to zero amount except the tax bill of 1992, which doesn’t receive the same treatment. Therefore, the Taipei High Administrative Court sent letter to the National Taxation bureau and the Hsinchu Branch of the enforcement Agency the second time on May 7, 2020, stated that since there are unapproved new facts and new evidences concerning the 1992 tax, the Central Branch of the National Taxation Bureau is requested to treat it with the same standard applied to the tax bills of 1991, 1993, 1994,1995 and 1996 to correct the comprehensive income tax to zero, and to withdraw from execution in accordance of Article 40.
The tax bills that should not have been issued from the beginning have left Tai Ji Men Shifu and dizi trapped in the administrative relief for 25 years, and justice has yet arrived. The perpetrator of this unjust case was Kuan-Ren Hou. Not only he was not punished, but he has also been promoted to the deputy director of the Independent Commission Against Corruption under the Ministry of Justice, holding greater power. One person’s mistakes have turned into a virus that infected the entire rule of law system, causing unscrupulous officials to form a structure of accomplices and seriously violates the freedom of thought, freedom of religion, freedom of belief, and right to cultural life of Tai Ji Men Shifu and dizi. The Tai Ji Men case is just the tip of the iceberg. The government condones unscrupulous officials to abuse their power, harm the country, the people, and violate human rights. It also put the administrative and social resources as well as public funds into wastes.
The Spread of the Virus Threatens Democracy
Look forward to the Conscience Reform of the Ruling Cabinet to Redress Unjust Case
The Control Yuan issued the (2009) Yuan-Tai-Si No. 0982200593 Letter and opinions on the investigation detailing seven major legal violations by NTB in the Tai Ji Men tax case, namely, failure to fulfill its investigation and assessment duties, clear negligence to actively clarify the nature of income ex officio, sketchy recordation in the contents of its survey list, and failure to pay attention to evidences both favorable and unfavorable to the taxpayer.
The former member of the Control Yuan, Qian Lin Huijun, publicly stated at the “Rectifying the False Case” press conference and seminar on July 13, 2017 that there are seven points for rectification in the Tai Ji Men tax case. With each, the National Taxation Bureau simply said: "Ah! We made a mistake!" In 2011, she told the Minister of Finance, "This case should be closed."
Among the 794 interpretations made by the Chief Justice of the Judicial Yuan, there are 131 tax-related constitutional interpretations, of which 56 laws and interpretation letters have been declared unconstitutional. In those declared unconstitutional, there are 17 interpretations are related to The Tai Ji Men tax case. The taxation punishments are invalid if violating any provisions of the Constitution, or violating due legal procedures, procedural justice and procedural legitimacy.
One person’s fault puts the whole country at risk. Kuan-jen Hou used false evidence and false witnesses to create false cases that harmed Taiwan for 25 years. The administrative agency also followed the false cases and keeps making mistakes. The National Taxation Bureau illegally issued false tax bills. In the absence of reason and evidence, the National Taxation Bureau spent money to hire lawyers to file an appeal, which is equivalent to spending the hard-earned money of the people paid by taxes to hire "mercenaries" to beat the people. The Administrative Enforcement Agency of the Ministry of Justice knew that it was a false case, but it still illegally forced auctions and robbed civilian property, stigmatizing the government as a robber. They wasted public money, wasted administrative resources and litigation resources, and made the people exhausted of litigation and deep troubles.
Government exists to serve the people. Officials should act in accordance with their conscience, stand in a position to protect people’s rights under the rule of law, and correct the mistakes if there is any. It is the spirit of democracy and progress to vindicate false cases and grievances caused by the abuse of law enforcement in the past. In particular, Taiwan, a country that claims to be democratic and ruled by law, which has also begun to implement the Two Covenants. Administrative agencies should administer according to law and protect human rights so that the people are free from fear. Look forward to the ruling cabinet to put justice into practice, rectify unjust cases, and conscience reform.