For the tenth time, the United Nations’s highest human rights body hears about the Tai Ji Men case.
by Massimo Introvigne
An article already published in Bitter Winter on September 9th, 2024.
On September 9, 2024, the 57th session of the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council opens in Geneva. The session represents a milestone for the Tai Ji Men case, as it is presented to the attention of the Human Rights Council for the tenth time in fourteen years, between 2010 and 2024, a rare event for a freedom of religion or belief and taxpayers’ rights case.
The written statement filed by the ECOSOC-accredited NGO, CAP-LC (Coordination des Associations et des Particuliers pour la Liberté de Conscience, Coordination of Associations and Individuals for Freedom of Conscience), which we offer for download on “Bitter Winter,” is entitled “Truth, Justice, Reparation, and Recovery: Discrimination Against Spiritual Minorities Through the Abuse of Taxes.” It is also published on the Web site of the United Nations.
Download CAP-LC’s Written Statement.
After mentioning that religious and spiritual minorities are discriminated through taxes, from France to Japan, the statement focuses on “an egregious violation of the right to truth, justice, reparation, and restoration [the general theme of the Human Rights Council 57th session], and the right for spiritual minorities not to be harassed through ill-founded taxes, [which] was committed by the Taichung High Administrative Court as recently as August 2.”
The statement offers a summary of the case of “Tai Ji Men, a menpai (similar to a school) of qigong, martial arts, and self-cultivation. In 1996, Tai Ji Men was one of the victims of a politically motivated purge that hit several spiritual minorities and was accused of fraud and tax evasion. Eventually, in 2007, the Supreme Court, following similar decisions of the lower courts, totally vindicated Tai Ji Men and declared its defendants innocent of all charges, including tax evasion. However, based on the faulty criminal indictment, the National Taxation Bureau (NTB) had in the meantime issued tax bills for the years 1991 to 1996, claiming that the money the Shifu (Grand Master) of Tai Ji Men had received in these years from his dizi (disciples) in the so-called ‘red envelopes’ should not be considered as non-taxable gifts but as tuition fees for a so-called ‘cram school,’ i.e., a school where pupils receive crash courses, normally in preparation for exams.”
“Different authorities,” continues the statement, “intervened in the controversy, including the Ministry of Education (which has authority on cram schools) and courts of law. All declared that in the Tai Ji Men case there was no cram school and no tax evasion. It took years of litigation for Tai Ji Men to have the NTB correct all tax bills to zero, except the one for the year 1992. For the latter year, the NTB maintained that a decision (regarding the tax bill of the year 1992) issued in 2006 by the Supreme Administrative Court had become final, and no different disposition was possible.” CAP-LC notes that, “Obviously, in democratic countries when a decision is clearly wrong and there are new facts (including, in this case, the Supreme Court decision of 2007 and a Supreme Administrative Court decision in 2018 favorable to Tai Ji Men), it can always be revised and rectified. Nonetheless, based on the 1992 tax bill, in 2020 sacred land where Tai Ji Men intended to build a self-cultivation center and educational facilities was confiscated, unsuccessfully auctioned off, and nationalized.”
The statement then examines the most recent injustice, the decision rendered in Taichung. “On August 2, 2024, the Taichung High Administrative Court decided on the request by Tai Ji Men for a refund of whatever was considered as payment for the year 1992, based on the fact that nothing different from the other years, with respect to the ‘red envelopes,’ happened in 1992, and that it has been conclusively established that the content of the ‘red envelopes,’ for all years consisted of non-taxable gifts rather than tuition fees for a non-existent cram school. Unfortunately, the Taichung High Administrative Court ruled once again that the 2006 decision against Tai Ji Men is final and cannot be rectified and amended to return the land. It even went so far as to state that the case of 1992 was different from the other years, This was clearly false, and in fact two letters issued in 2010 on June 23 and July 26 by the National Taxation Bureau for the Central Area clearly stated that the tax cases for all the years from 1991 to 1996 had been assessed based on the same underlying factual basis.”
CAP-LC adds the comment that, “The Taichung High Administrative Court is known for siding with the government’s bureaucracy against the citizens, particularly in tax cases. The same judge Liu Xixian who issued the Tai Ji Men ruling in 2012 heard 56 tax cases. In all cases, he ruled against the taxpayers. Other judges in the same court have similar statistics.”
The written statement concludes that, “It is not a mere question of taxes but one of violation of freedom of religion or belief. CAP-LC asks that in all cases where spiritual minorities were harassed through taxes, including the Tai Ji Men case, truth and justice should be reestablished, proper reparation should be given to the victims, their innocence should be restored and confiscated property returned.”
The Tai Ji Men case has garnered significant attention at the UN Human Rights Council over the years. On November 9, 2010, the Association of World Citizens, an NGO accredited with the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), submitted a 1503 procedure to the Human Rights Council regarding the Tai Ji Men case. The 1503 procedure is used to file complaints about human rights violations, asking the Human Rights Council to investigate.
During the 47th session of the Human Rights Council, CAP-LC submitted a written statement on June 21, 2021, highlighting the misuse of taxes by governments to discriminate against certain religious and spiritual organizations, citing the Tai Ji Men case as a notable example of such abuse.
At the 48th session of the Human Rights Council, CAP-LC presented another written statement on August 31, 2021. This submission focused on the discriminatory seizure of real estate from religious and spiritual minorities, using the confiscation of Tai Ji Men’s sacred land in 2020 due to an unfounded tax bill for the year 1992 as a primary illustration.
A statement on corruption was filed at the 49th session and distributed on February 9, 2022. In this fourth document, CAP-LC highlighted bureaucratic corruption as a critical factor in the Tai Ji Men case.
For the 50th session of the Human Rights Council, CAP-LC submitted yet another statement on June 1, 2022. This document reviewed Taiwan’s adherence to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). Taiwan incorporated the Two Covenants into its domestic law in 2007 and periodically invites international experts to review how it complies with them. CAP-LC pointed out that the most recent review, which took place from May 9–13, 2022, overlooked significant issues relating to taxation and religious freedom evidenced in the Tai Ji Men case.
During the 51st session of the Human Rights Council, CAP-LC filed a sixth document concerning the Tai Ji Men case on September 1, 2022, emphasizing international scholars’ support for Tai Ji Men.
At the 52nd session of the Human Rights Council, a new statement by CAP-LC backed the proposal for an International Day Against Judicial and Tax Persecution by State Power. This proposal had been launched by Dr. René Wadlow, President of the already mentioned Association of World Citizens (AWC), and Dr. Hong Tao-Tze, the Shifu (Grand Master) of Tai Ji Men and Vice President of AWC.
In May 2023, during the 53rd session of the Human Rights Council, CP-LC filed a statement focusing on transitional justice issues in the Tai Ji Men case.
At the 55th session of the Human Rights Council, in March 2024, CAP-LC filed a statement on the “Violation of Democratic Principles and Misuse of Tax Laws to Discriminate Against Spiritual Groups.” It highlighted the forum held in Taipei at National Taiwan University on January 9, 2024, co-organized by several associations including the Association of World Citizens, the Taiwan Association for Financial Criminal Law Study, the Financial and Economic Research Center of National Chung Cheng University, Action Alliance to Redress 1219, the Tax and Law Reform League, and the Movement for “An Era of Conscience”, discussing tax and law reform and the Tai Ji Men case.