19 September 2016

An international youth forum on law and tax reform was held at 9:30 am Saturday, September 17 in Walnut, Los Angeles. The forum received wide attention and had participants from America, Canada, Mexico, Netherlands, Belgium, New Zealand, Taiwan, and Burma. Participants also jointly promoted Declaration of World Citizens and Declaration of An Era of Conscience. Tax is a matter of national importance. Every government with rule of law will put in the administration check and balance to ensure fair tax treatment. IRS in the America has great power. Most American people hate IRS but are not afraid of it. However, in Taiwan, people are afraid of tax authority but do not hate it. Taiwanese have long been taught paying tax is the duty of a citizen. As such taxpayer’s human rights have long been ignored by the government. At the beginning of the forum, a documentary of tax investigation by the phone was revealed and evoked widespread anger. Legislator Chen Ting-Fei demanded the phone survey of tax matters should be stopped immediately. Professor Huang Jun-Jie, also member of Human Rights Advisory Board to the President, commented the incident as the tax 228 incident. Law professor Chen Chi-Long from National Taiwan University said keeping issuing fake tax bills is like serial killer in criminal law.

If this could happen in Taiwan, then it will happen in other place as well. The first session was presented by Chen Chieh-An, Taiwan and US lawyer, with focus on government governance and tax collection. She talked about the recent case of Mega Bank fined by the US for failure of reporting suspected case of money laundering. People are asking who should bear the responsibility. Ministry of Finance is the major shareholder of Mega Bank with close to 20% shares. That means every Taiwan citizen is taking up US$ 360,000 loss for the fine. The government is entrusted with the power to create welfare for the nation. However, it does not seem to be so in the case. The case also reveals serious governance flaw in the system. Former minister of finance replied he had no understanding of this case at all. What’s going on in the government? Especially in the ministry of finance? Chen also says that in the Tai Ji Men case, the violation of due process is the most severe abuse of government power with up to ten thousand people’s rights being violated. Tai Ji Men criminal case has been ruled after three instances of court with final verdict of not guilty in 2007. However the tax case, which is derived from the fabricated charges in criminal case, has not been resolved after 20 years.

Tai Ji Men is an ancient menpai (similar to school) of qigong, martial arts and heart cultivation. It is a public non-profit organization. The kongfu is passed down from shifu to dizi. Dizi presenting to shifu a red envelop (monetary gift) to express his/her appreciation is a tradition of Chinese culture. Tax bureau, without doing their share of due diligence, distorted the nature of the red envelop as tuition 20 years ago and taxed accordingly. On May 12, just a few days before the new government sworn in, tax bureau conducted phone interviews asking for the nature of the money 20 years back. In the phone survey, there is no selection for voluntary gifting. This is in serious violation of principle of evidence and due process of law. Tax bureau intends to create fake evidences in favorable to them through the scheme of intimidating people. Chen contrasts Taiwan’s practices against the US. Most Taiwan government officials do not think tax regime needs legislation of equality, meaning taxation by the government is prone to violation of human rights. She quotes Ken 雅各布森 by saying “IRS is a very powerful organization. Most people don’t like IRS. But they are not afraid of IRS.” This is because IRS needs to follow the laws and due process. The law does not take sides with IRS. Instead, what counts most is the fact and the conclusions from the fact.

Chen also mentioned that from meeting with the chief justices in the International Conference of Chief Justices of the World, she understands in other nations, odds of taxpayers winning the case against government are around 50%. However, the ratio in Taiwan is less than 10%. In order to create a truly democratic nation, the rule of law needs to be practiced. Correcting the wrongs of the past government is the right and responsibility of the new government.

Samuel Rong Kuo, chief executive of SGC International, pointed out “People demand respect and protection of human rights from the government.” In commenting the Tai Ji Men case, he said “First of all, it is a simple mistake. How could a simple mistake turn into such a big problem which cannot be solved after 4 presidential terms? Secondly, we can take active actions to promote human rights.” He quotes the author James Allen by saying “Changing your way of thinking is changing your life.” He urges government change the way of thinking so lives of future generations will be changed. Michael Selfridge, public relation manager of FOWPAL, indicated “In the state, public non-profit organization can easily seek tax-exempt status. The obstacles to peace is greed and corruption and human rights are bound to be violated. If we really want peace, we have to challenge the apathetic system.”

Tai Ji Men dizi Chen Pei-Ling, post doctorate researcher from Canada, said that she walked out of depression thanks to Tai Ji Men. She presented the red envelop to shifu to express her appreciation. This is very clear a voluntary gifting. How could the government torture its people with taxes? How could my intentions be distorted and get my shifu punished? It has been going on for 20 years. Why the situation is not solved?

Is it really that difficult for the government to correct the wrongs? Tai Ji Men case has prompted legal professionals, scholars and human rights experts to devote to the research of taxpayer’s human rights. The forum is organized by UN NGO Association of World Citizens and Tai Ji Men Qigong Academy. The second session is the keynote presentation from Kuo Ding-Yi, human rights observer of Association of World Citizens. The details of Tai Ji Men case are revealed, analyzed and commented. Violations of law and abuse of power by prosecutors and tax agents are also discussed. Participants include many Tai Ji Men dizi, lawyers, youth and reporters bravely revealing the scars of history and taking proactive roles in monitoring the progress of democracy and rule of law.

Photo: The forum received wide attention and had participants from America, Canada, Mexico, Netherlands, Belgium, New Zealand, Taiwan, and Burma. Participants also jointly promoted Declaration of World Citizens and Declaration of An Era of Conscience.