Tai Ji Men protests in front of Taipei Economic Cultural Office in Honolulu, demanding the Taiwanese government to return its sacred land.
Tai Ji Men is a spiritual organization that practices qigong and martial arts and has over 10,000 members. It has been persecuted for nearly a quarter-century because of Hou Kuan-jen’s and a few rogue bureaucrats’ violations of the law and abuse of authority in Taiwan. On September 3, 2021, a group of Tai Ji Men members protested in front of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Honolulu, delivering a petition letter to Tseng Yong-Kwang, the Office’s director-general, asking him to send their message to Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen. They were received by Director Joffrey Han of the Office, on his behalf. Tai Ji Men members urged President Tsai to lead her administration to truly rectify the Tai Ji Men case, revoke the unlawful 1992 tax bill, and return the illegally confiscated land to Tai Ji Men as soon as possible. Director Han stated that he would inform the director-general of their message.
Twenty-four years ago, Taiwan’s National Taxation Bureau imposed taxes on Tai Ji Men based on a criminal indictment alone. The main evidence that prosecutor Hou Kuan-jen submitted to indict Tai Ji Men was the testimony by tax collector Yueh-sheng Shih. On August 22, 2021, a shocking revelation was reported by a media outlet. Mr. Shih revealed in a video interview that prosecutor Hou Kuan-jen, who instigated the Tai Ji Men case, asked him to bear false witness against Tai Ji Men. Shih said that it didn’t matter what he said, Prosecutor Hou would just claim that Shih made the determination that Tai Ji Men was evading taxes. Shih further mentioned that at that time, when he was asked about the case, he would express his doubts about issuing tax bills to Tai Ji Men, but nobody wanted to listen to him. In his opinion, taxation should be supported by evidence, and in the Tai Ji Men case, no clear explanation or evidence was provided for the calculation of the taxes. However, a city field office of the Investigation Bureau insisted that Shih did as he was told.
This interview confirmed that the tax evasion charges against Tai Ji Men were conjured out of thin air by the prosecutor and that the tax bills issued were illegal. Moreover, the Supreme Court of Taiwan has since determined that Tai Ji Men was not guilty of all the charges and did not owe taxes. The Control Yuan also took the initiative to investigate and determine that prosecutor Hou Kuan-jen committed eight major violations of the law and the National Taxation Bureau committed seven violations of the law in the Tai Ji Men case. For each of the seven corrections issued by the Control Yuan, the National Taxation Bureau admitted it made the mistakes, which was sufficient to show that the tax bills were illegal and should be revoked immediately.
The group of Tai Ji Men members also told John Wen Ho, commissioner of Taiwan’s Overseas Community Affairs Council, about the fabricated and unjust Tai Ji Men case. Commissioner Ho was shocked that such a case happened in this day and age!
One of the protesters is Ying-fen Chang, who is a Tai Ji Men member and a teacher. She said, “The few illegal officials did not own up to their mistakes when they did wrong. As parents, we usually teach our children to bravely admit mistakes. Who is a sage that never makes mistakes? But a few illegal officials not only refused to admit mistakes, but also robbed the people of their property. How are we able to educate the next generation?”
Tai Ji Men member Judy Chen said, “The fabricated and unlawful Tai Ji Men case is not an isolated one. There are many cases of unjust taxation in Taiwan. We love Taiwan very much. That’s why we are here, protesting for taxpayer rights not only for Tai Ji Men but also for all people in Taiwan. We are hoping that the director-general will assist us in getting our message to President Tsai, urging her and those in power in Taiwan to act with conscience, love the people, and serve the public. We hope they will quickly revoke the illegal tax bills and return the illegally confiscated land and justice to Tai Ji Men.”
