Last night, a Taiwanese PR sat down and asked of me:

  • “Is it possible to lower the property tax rate to that of a 3-room flat instead of a 5-room flat?”
  • “Is it possible to lower the utility rates from that of a 5-room flat to that of a 3-room flat?”
  • “Is it possible to lower the fees I pay for TV license?”

If I wasn't where I was, my first reaction would be... next! I'd like to think that my thinking has slightly matured, after recently re-reading Dale Carnegie's book, and I patiently explained to the Taiwanese that

  • The property tax is based on the annual value of the flat, and if you want to pay lower property tax rates, sell your 5-room flat and get a 3-room flat.
  • The utility rates are the same for 3-room, 4-room, 5-room flats. Indeed, they are the same for domestic places. And if you want to pay less for utilities, use less of them!
  • The TV license fee is a fixed fee.

I find that my Mandarin sucks. Even though I can converse in 3 languages (English, Mandarin, and Malay) and 2 dialects (Hokkien and Teochew), most of the time, I can translate between 2 languages and 2 dialects properly, however, I wasn't able to do so last night, as I struggled on translating unit price (rate) to Mandarin.