The government might issue vouchers to redistribute this year’s surplus tax revenue, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday following a call from lawmakers.
Lawmakers on the legislature’s Finance Committee asked Acting Minister of Finance Frank Juan (阮清華) about the possibility of redistributing surplus tax revenue.
Juan said a redistribution scheme would have to undergo legislative review, so it would be easier to issue vouchers similar to the stimulus vouchers issued to encourage consumer spending during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Photo: CNA
Although tax revenue exceeded the general budget planned for this year, it fell into a deficit when special budgets were taken into consideration, he added.
As such, redistributing the surplus could increase the government’s debt burden and should be carefully deliberated, he said.
Juan promised to bring the issue to the Executive Yuan and discuss it with government agencies.
Separately, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators Wang Ting-yu (王定宇), Chao Tien-lin (趙天麟) and Michelle Lin (林楚茵) from the party’s Taiwan Forward faction proposed at a news conference ways to return the surplus tax revenue to the public.
Tax revenue in the first 11 months of this year exceeded NT$3 trillion (US$97.69 billion) for the first time, and by the end of the year might exceed the planned budget by NT$450 billion, they said.
The government should return the surplus to the public in cash or voucher form before the Lunar New Year holiday next month, they said.
It should also provide debt relief to 840,000 students in Taiwan and offer further economic relief packages to traditional industries, which were affected the most by COVID-19, they said.
Although Taiwan’s overall economic situation has ostensibly been good during the pandemic, that might only be the case for specific industries such as semiconductors and technology, Wang said.
Traditional industries, including service providers, caterers and food markets, have been struggling, he added.
Many people have complained to Vice President William Lai (賴清德) at local forums that the government’s economic relief packages came with too many limitations and inconveniences, Chao said.
The tax surplus mainly came from corporate income taxes, Lin said, adding that large companies performed well during the pandemic and their factories managed to deliver products on time.
However, the food industry, and small and medium-sized enterprises have been negatively affected by the pandemic, she said.
Former New Taipei City councilor Ho Po-wen (何博文) and former Hsinchu City councilor Lee Yen-hui (李妍慧) of the DPP urged the government to share the surplus with the public so that people can enjoy the Lunar New Year.
Later yesterday, Executive Yuan spokesman Lo Ping-cheng (羅秉成) said that President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) would convene a national security meeting to discuss the issue based on the economic conditions at home and abroad.
The Executive Yuan would make an announcement as soon as a concrete policy is formulated, he added.
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