Legislators and social welfare advocates said yesterday that they opposed an amendment to the Statute Governing Public Welfare Lotteries (公益彩券發行條例) that classifies sports lotteries as public welfare lotteries, but dictates that 80 percent of profits from them be used to promote sports, and only 20 percent on social welfare programs.
The amendment will come under consideration at a meeting of the legislature’s Finance Committee today.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chen Chiech-ju (陳節如) told a press conference yesterday that she was not opposed to funding sports, but said that using a majority of the profits to that end contradicted the principle of a public welfare lottery.
Article 1 of the statute states that profits from public welfare lotteries must subsidize social welfare programs, she said.
Chen said that the statute required that 45 percent go to the National Pension Fund and 5 percent be used to fund the National Health Insurance system. The other 50 percent must be spent on welfare programs run by local governments.
“Between 2002 and 2007, the profits generated by public welfare lotteries dropped from NT$29.6 billion to NT$15.5 billion,” she said. “The government should budget more money to develop the nation’s sports industry. Why would it want to rely on a relatively unstable source of revenue to fund sports instead?”
Chen also said the government uses separate oversight mechanisms for public welfare lotteries and sports lotteries.
Public welfare lotteries are jointly supervised by the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of the Interior. While the finance ministry appropriates the profits, the interior ministry ensures that local governments use the money to support social welfare programs.
Sports lotteries, on the other hand, will be issued by Taipei Fubon Bank and supervised by the Sports Affairs Council. Profits will be used to subsidize sports events and facilities.
To address the differences, the finance ministry has proposed including athletics experts and sports officials on the supervisory committee for public welfare lotteries.
Chen questioned whether this was a viable solution, adding that the two funds were distributed according to different standards.
The Social Welfare Alliance of Taiwan’s chairman, Pai Hsiu-hsiung (白秀雄), said that social welfare groups had suggested years ago that the government amend regulations for sports lotteries. Instead, the government chose to make minor changes to the existing statute on public welfare lotteries, adding a few lines to certain articles to regulate the use of profits from sports lotteries, Pai said.
“I wonder why the government is so determined to amend the regulations before the next administration takes office,” Pai said. “Why don’t we wait until May, when the new government can restart discussions between government officials and social welfare representatives?”
Pai said the amendment essentially presented sports development as a kind of social welfare program, adding that this would make the nation a laughing stock.
The finance ministry decided last year to launch sports lotteries starting on Friday.
National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology (NKUST) yesterday promised it would increase oversight of use of Chinese in course materials, following a social media outcry over instances of simplified Chinese characters being used, including in a final exam. People on Threads wrote that simplified Chinese characters were used on a final exam and in a textbook for a translation course at the university, while the business card of a professor bore the words: “Taiwan Province, China.” Photographs of the exam, the textbook and the business card were posted with the comments. NKUST said that other members of the faculty did not see
The Taipei City Government yesterday said contractors organizing its New Year’s Eve celebrations would be held responsible after a jumbo screen played a Beijing-ran television channel near the event’s end. An image showing China Central Television (CCTV) Channel 3 being displayed was posted on the social media platform Threads, sparking an outcry on the Internet over Beijing’s alleged political infiltration of the municipal government. A Taipei Department of Information and Tourism spokesman said event workers had made a “grave mistake” and that the Television Broadcasts Satellite (TVBS) group had the contract to operate the screens. The city would apply contractual penalties on TVBS
A new board game set against the backdrop of armed conflict around Taiwan is to be released next month, amid renewed threats from Beijing, inviting players to participate in an imaginary Chinese invasion 20 years from now. China has ramped up military activity close to Taiwan in the past few years, including massing naval forces around the nation. The game, titled 2045, tasks players with navigating the troubles of war using colorful action cards and role-playing as characters involved in operations 10 days before a fictional Chinese invasion of Taiwan. That includes members of the armed forces, Chinese sleeper agents and pro-China politicians
The lowest temperature in a low-lying area recorded early yesterday morning was in Miaoli County’s Gongguan Township (公館), at 6.8°C, due to a strong cold air mass and the effect of radiative cooling, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. In other areas, Chiayi’s East District (東區) recorded a low of 8.2°C and Yunlin County’s Huwei Township (虎尾) recorded 8.5°C, CWA data showed. The cold air mass was at its strongest from Saturday night to the early hours of yesterday. It brought temperatures down to 9°C to 11°C in areas across the nation and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties,
RSS