The Legislative Yuan passed an amendment to the Income Tax Act on Friday, abolishing the long-

On Friday, lawmakers passed the third reading of an amendment eliminating tax exemptions for teachers and military personnel.

The benchmark tax equality law will affect an estimated 135,000 military personnel and 236,000 teachers, and bring in an additional 11.2 billion NT in tax revenues.

The Ministry of Finance will be using the funds to raise military wages and improve the overall educational environment.

The measure will be promulgated in 2012, and teachers and military personnel will begin paying taxes in 2013.

The Ministry of National Defense says that its top priority will be raising the wage levels of volunteer servicemen, but that the wages of high- and low-ranking military officers are based on a different pay scale.

The tax exemption had been criticized for decades, and all previous attempts to eliminate it had failed.

In 2002, the DPP administration passed a tax exemption elimination draft, but withdrew it after teachers staged large-scale demonstrations.

Last year, DPP lawmakers attempted to block the government's budget until the draft was passed.

After the draft was sent back to the KMT, it was revived and finally passed on Friday.