Taiwanese launch yellow vest movement to protest taxes

The Tax & Legal Reform League, an activist group, called the protest after marshaling about 20,000 people outside the presidential office in an initial demonstration a week before this, and another 10,000, according to organizers and Taiwanese media.

Thousands of Taiwanese, taking a page from France’s yellow vest movement, protested Thursday for the third time in a week to demand lower taxes and the fair handling of tax disputes.

Wearing yellow vests, they shouted slogans and blared air horns outside the Ministry of Finance in Taipei, the capital city, and waved banners calling Taiwan’s tax collection policies illegal. Some wore clear plastic raincoats over their vests in a light rain.

“This is about our futures,” said Joanna Tai, a 23-year-old English language graduate student who plans to teach after graduation next year.

“We look at wages in Hong Kong and mainland China. We want to know why there’s so much of a gap with Taiwan,” she said.