Lawmakers yesterday passed an amendment to the Act on COVID-19 Prevention, Relief and Recovery (嚴重特殊傳染性肺炎防治及紓困振興特別條例), raising the upper limit of a special budget to bail out industries and people whose livelihoods have been affected by the pandemic to NT$210 billion (US$7 billion).
The new limit represents a NT$150 billion increase to the budget’s ceiling, NT$60 billion, passed last month by the Legislative Yuan, and the amended act is to serve as the legal basis for a matching budget increase proposed this month by the Executive Yuan for its expanded economic stimulus package.
Depending on the development of the pandemic, a second special budget may be planned, but its amount must not exceed the current one, the amendment says.
Photo: CNA
The planning and spending of the accompanying special budget, for which the Executive Yuan is soon to submit a request, would not be bound by limitations in the Budget Act (預算法), it says, meaning that funds allocated to one agency can be redistributed to another.
Exceptions are special budgetary items that have been annulled by the legislature, it adds.
The budget is to be sourced from surplus revenue from previous fiscal years and borrowing, which is not subject to rules in the Public Debt Act (公共債務法) that limit the amount of capital the government can borrow for the special budget in a fiscal year to 15 percent of the proportion used, the amendment says.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
Two proposals tendered by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus — to waive or reduce business tax for operators in sectors significantly affected by the pandemic and waive their import duties — were vetoed.
At the start of the legislative plenary session, KMT Legislator Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) criticized the Executive Yuan’s policy for bailing out self-employed workers and freelancers, saying that requirements such as having participated in the Labor Insurance Fund and having an insured monthly salary of less than NT$24,000 to be eligible for a NT$30,000 subsidy are too strict.
He also criticized the Cabinet’s reluctance to issue cash handouts to people subject to an income tax rate of up to 20 percent, saying that what Taiwanese need now is a timely subsidy to help them through the pandemic, citing countries such as the US, the UK and Malaysia, which are giving citizens cash handouts.
However, the KMT caucus did not tender the proposal mentioned by Chiang.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Wu Ping-jui (吳秉叡) said that the KMT proposal would have given even people earning an annual salary of NT$2.42 million a subsidy of NT$6,000.
Even lawmakers, whose annual salary is more than NT$2 million and who have no need for subsidies, would have received NT$6,000 under the KMT’s initial proposal, he said.
The KMT is trying to score political points with the proposal, but that would only encroach on the budget allocated for people who most need it; for example, taxi drivers, whose business has been seriously affected by the pandemic, he added.
MISINFORMATION: The generated content tends to adopt China’s official stance, such as ‘Taiwan is currently governed by the Chinese central government,’ the NSB said Five China-developed artificial intelligence (AI) language models exhibit cybersecurity risks and content biases, an inspection conducted by the National Security Bureau (NSB) showed. The five AI tools are: DeepSeek, Doubao (豆包), Yiyan (文心一言), Tongyi (通義千問) and Yuanbao (騰訊元寶), the bureau said, advising people to remain vigilant to protect personal data privacy and corporate business secrets. The NSB said it, in accordance with the National Intelligence Services Act (國家情報工作法), has reviewed international cybersecurity reports and intelligence, and coordinated with the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau and the National Police Agency’s Criminal Investigation Bureau to conduct an inspection of China-made AI language
LIMITS: While China increases military pressure on Taiwan and expands its use of cognitive warfare, it is unwilling to target tech supply chains, the report said US and Taiwan military officials have warned that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) could implement a blockade within “a matter of hours” and need only “minimal conversion time” prior to an attack on Taiwan, a report released on Tuesday by the US Senate’s China Economic and Security Review Commission said. “While there is no indication that China is planning an imminent attack, the United States and its allies and partners can no longer assume that a Taiwan contingency is a distant possibility for which they would have ample time to prepare,” it said. The commission made the comments in its annual
CHECKING BOUNDARIES: China wants to disrupt solidarity among democracies and test their red lines, but it is instead pushing nations to become more united, an expert said The US Department of State on Friday expressed deep concern over a Chinese public security agency’s investigation into Legislator Puma Shen (沈伯洋) for “secession.” “China’s actions threaten free speech and erode norms that have underpinned the cross-strait ‘status quo’ for decades,” a US Department of State spokesperson said. The Chongqing Municipal Public Security Bureau late last month listed Shen as “wanted” and launched an investigation into alleged “secession-related” criminal activities, including his founding of the Kuma Academy, a civil defense organization that prepares people for an invasion by China. The spokesperson said that the US was “deeply concerned” about the bureau investigating Shen
‘TROUBLEMAKER’: Most countries believe that it is China — rather than Taiwan — that is undermining regional peace and stability with its coercive tactics, the president said China should restrain itself and refrain from being a troublemaker that sabotages peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday. Lai made the remarks after China Coast Guard vessels sailed into disputed waters off the Senkaku Islands — known as the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台) in Taiwan — following a remark Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi made regarding Taiwan. Takaichi during a parliamentary session on Nov. 7 said that a “Taiwan contingency” involving a Chinese naval blockade could qualify as a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan, and trigger Tokyo’s deployment of its military for defense. Asked about the escalating tensions
RSS