The Taipei City Government yesterday cried foul over its outstanding national health insurance subsidy debts, saying it was unfair for the capital to shoulder NT$38 billion (US$1.2 billion) in payments for non-residents.
The problem stems from President Ma Ying-jeou's (馬英九) tenure as Taipei mayor, when the city government decided not to pay the fees because it disagreed with the way the bureau calculated the size of the city's workforce.
Local governments are required by law to pay one-third of the costs of medical treatment incurred in the previous year by residents in their jurisdiction. Taipei has insisted that a lack of funds has prevented it from paying the debts.
Past lawsuits resulted in a Supreme Administrative Court ruling against Taipei City Government, which was told to repay the debt it accrued between 1999 and 2002.
Addressing the matter of back payments, Premier Liu Chao-hsiuan (劉兆玄) has instructed the Department of Health to ask the city government to propose plots of land or other assets equal in value to those plots that had been confiscated from the local government as security against the unpaid debt, so that they could be returned to the local government to be developed.
Taipei City Finance Department head Chiu Da-chan (邱大展) yesterday said the city had found 20 plots of land with an estimated market value of NT$800 million (US$24.4 million), hoping to exchange them with the 31 lots seized by the central government.
Su Ying-kuei (蘇盈貴), commissioner of Taipei City's Labor Department, yesterday said that it was unfair to ask the city to cover people whose household registrations were not in the city.
While the city has a workforce of about 1.4 million, the city government pays the health insurance subsidy for 3.6 million people, he said.
Su criticized the central government for reducing the tax redistribution fund to local governments since July 1999 and thus diminishing the city treasury by NT$109.6 billion so far.
Taking business tax as an example, Su said lowering the business tax from 5 percent to 2 percent has taken NT$6 billion each year from city government coffers.
Su said it was “stupid” for the central government to confiscate land from the local government.
He said the central government's handling of the matter had “harmed” the local government.
“Isn't this an indication that they are very incompetent?” he asked.
A magnitude 4.9 earthquake struck off Tainan at 11:47am today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 32.3km northeast of Tainan City Hall at a depth of 7.3km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Tainan and Chiayi County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Chiayi City and County, and Yunlin County, while it was measured as 2 in Kaohsiung, Nantou County, Changhua County, Taitung County and offshore Penghu County, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
RSS