Taiwan must take steps to make itself competitive with South Korea, Morris Chang, CEO of TSMC, told a meeting in Taiwan reported by the Focus Taiwan news channel.
Taiwan should tax the rich more, said Chang, pointing out that the average tax rate for rich people in Taiwan is 7 or 8% which is much lower than for the average person.
Cutting businessmen's many tax-breaks would help reduce the difference between rich and poor, said Chang.
Samsung competition
Another thing the Taiwan government should do is let the NT $ depreciate, said Chang.The NT $ has appreciated by 9.9% since 2007 while South Korea's won depreciated by 17.9%.
Samsung has just reported a profit of $8.2bn for Q4 2012. Chang said that Taiwan should compete against Samsung, not by forming a conglomerate like Samsung, but by forming separate companies which compete with Samsung in each of its businesses.
Cutting the value of the NT $ would help make Taiwan's exports more competitive, said Chang.