Taipei, April 21 (CNA) Owners of some 3,000 luxury houses or apartments in Taipei will pay additional housing tax based on government-assessed property valuations starting in May, city officials said.

A total of 2,935 households in 139 buildings will be levied the extra tax, which has been dubbed the "luxury home" tax by the public.

The Taipei Revenue Service originally stipulated that upscale homes in single buildings and expensive locations with luxurious facades, good views and tight security would be subject to the additional tax.

However, after the original plan drew mixed reactions for not considering property market values and house sizes, the agency added three more criteria.

The three new criteria state that the extra tax will be imposed on properties with a total value of NT$80 million (US$2.7 million) or more, and ones with a value of NT$1 million per ping (3.3 square meters) or more and on houses or apartment of over 80 pings, and on buildings in which more than 70 percent of households fall in theprevious two categories.

The revised criteria ruled out 7,500 houses or apartments in 261 buildings that were to be subject to the additional tax under the original proposal.

In terms of the number of upscale homes to be subject to the additional tax in Taipei, Xinyi District tops the list with 1,358 households in 60 buildings, followed by Daan District (510 households) and Zhongshan District (454 households), according to the revenue agency.

(By Johnson Sun and Jamie Wang)
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