Pressured by the conservative opposition alliance of the former ruling Kuomintang and People First Party, President Chen Shui-bian decided on May 31 to delegate most domestic policy, giving power to Premier Su Tseng-chang as well as leaving the affairs of the governing Democratic Progressive Party in the hands of its chairman Yu Shyi-kun. Mr Su made the first major use of the president’s authorisation on June 29 with a surprise decision to shunt finance minister Joseph Lyu (who had just helped to defend the government’s control over Mega Holdings) into a post of minister without portfolio, and appointing Ho Chih-chin, a National Taiwan University economist and taxation and fiscal policy specialist, to head the ministry of finance (MoF).
In his first meeting with reporters on July 4, Mr Ho, who ended 15 years of service with the US Justice and Treasury Departments with service as a senior economist for the Internal Revenue Service, adopted a cautious stance on private sector calls for abolition of, or sharp reduction in, inheritance and gift taxes.
