The legislature yesterday enacted a bill designed to create a social security system that will cover 3.5 million people who currently lack any pension benefits.
The National Pension Law (
They will be required to pay a monthly contribution based on a percentage of the national minimum wage. Contributions will be calculated on a graded scale ranging from 6.5 percent to 12 percent of minimum wage.
After retirement at the age of 65, contributors would receive a pension of up to NT$8,986 per month for the rest of their life, a figure that will be adjusted in line with changes in the consumer price index.
Given the current minimum wage of NT$17,280, a monthly contribution of 6.5 percent of the minimum wage would amount to NT$1,123, of which a citizen will pay 60 percent, or NT$674, per month, while the government will cover the remaining 40 percent.
After 40 years, the total amount contributed by the citizen would be NT$515,082, while the payout would amount to NT$1.83 million over 17 years, calculated on an average lifespan of 82 years.
Integration
The bill also calls for the integration of four existing monthly allowances -- the NT$3,000 allowance for senior citizens, NT$5,000 for elderly farmers, NT$3,000 for Aboriginal senior citizens and NT$6,000 for elderly members of low-income households.
After the implementation of the national pension program, which is to start on Oct. 1 next year, the four categories of allowances will be scrapped, although the benefits will remained unchanged.
The legislature yesterday also passed an amendment to the Temporary Statute Regarding the Welfare Pension of Senior Farmers (
The amendment was passed with immediate effect, and the increase will cost the government an additional NT$8.4 billion (US$255.9 million) per year.
Budget bills
Also passed were two long-delayed budget bills for the current fiscal year -- a NT$2.9 trillion budget for state-owned enterprises and a NT$1 trillion budget for governmental non-profit funds -- as well as the NT$75.8 billion special budget for public construction projects.
The special budget was part of the government's NT$500 billion investment plan for major public construction projects from 2004 to next year.
The government initially expected that the budget would increase the nation's economic growth by 0.62 percent and create 39,000 job opportunities per year.
Lawmakers also passed an amendment to the License Plate Tax Law (使用牌照稅法), reducing the license tax on motorcycles with an engine capacity of 250cc or larger and expanding the scope of license tax exemption in outlying islands from 1,800cc to 2,400cc.
Also see story:
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
THUGGISH BEHAVIOR: Encouraging people to report independence supporters is another intimidation tactic that threatens cross-strait peace, the state department said China setting up an online system for reporting “Taiwanese independence” advocates is an “irresponsible and reprehensible” act, a US government spokesperson said on Friday. “China’s call for private individuals to report on alleged ‘persecution or suppression’ by supposed ‘Taiwan independence henchmen and accomplices’ is irresponsible and reprehensible,” an unnamed US Department of State spokesperson told the Central News Agency in an e-mail. The move is part of Beijing’s “intimidation campaign” against Taiwan and its supporters, and is “threatening free speech around the world, destabilizing the Indo-Pacific region, and deliberately eroding the cross-strait status quo,” the spokesperson said. The Chinese Communist Party’s “threats
RSS