The legislature yesterday passed a special bill to allocate NT$380 billion (US$12.49 billion) from last year’s surplus tax revenue to help Taiwan recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, which includes a provision to issue NT$6,000 cash handouts to all Taiwanese and tax-paying permanent residents.
In addition to the handouts, the surplus would be used to replenish the National Health Insurance fund and the Labor Insurance Fund, and subsidize the operations of state-run Taiwan Power Co (台電), according to the “special act for strengthening economic and social resilience after the pandemic and sharing economic results with the public.”
The funds could also be used to subsidize housing policies, public transportation costs, social welfare policies covering disadvantaged groups, and policies to help upgrade small and medium-sized enterprises, the bill says.
Photo: CNA
They could also be used to to attract international tourists, improve agricultural infrastructure and the rights and interests of fishers, and subsidize student loans, and cultural sectors and activities, it says.
The bill includes a sunset clause that sets the end date for the act and a matching special budget as Dec. 31, 2025.
The Cabinet must now submit a special budget request to the legislature for review before the surplus can be appropriated.
Photo: Liu Hsin-te, Taipei Times
A motion tendered by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus to issue NT$10,000 cash handouts instead of NT$6,000 was rejected by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers during the all-member hearing.
A motion sponsored by the DPP stating that all Taiwanese born before the act’s expiration date would receive the cash handout was passed as an addendum.
KMT caucus convener William Tseng (曾銘宗) expressed regret at the KMT’s motion being rejected.
The government has enough resources to fund NT$10,000 handouts, as last year’s tax surplus totaled NT$490 billion, and the surplus from 2021 can be added to the share allocated for cash handouts, Tseng said.
The Cabinet should propose plans to use the surplus to boost support for disadvantaged people, especially as real wages have been falling, he said.
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) during her New Year’s address on Jan. 1 said that a portion of last year’s tax surplus would be reserved in case of an emergency.
New Power Party Chairwoman and deputy caucus convenor Chen Jiau-hua (陳椒華) expressed concern that the planning of special budgets could become normalized, which she said would result in breaches of fiscal discipline.
The Ministry of Finance should be more precise in estimating its tax revenue to avoid overtaxing people rather than engaging in pork-barrel spending, she said.
Taiwan People’s Party caucus convener Chiu Chen-yuan (邱臣遠) said that the DPP should not have used a special budget to fund what should have been general budgetary items.
This has given rise to half-baked policies resulting from a desire to engage in pork-barrel spending ahead of next year’s presidential and legislative elections, Chiu said.
Minister Without Portfolio Lo Ping-cheng (羅秉成) said that the Cabinet would deliberate the special budget proposal tomorrow and deliver it to the legislature.
DPP caucus director-general Cheng Yun-peng (鄭運鵬) said that people would start receiving the handouts in April at the earliest.
The four legislative caucuses have agreed to ask Premier Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) to report to the legislature on Friday next week, after which the budget request would enter committee review, Cheng said.
The request would likely be deliberated by the caucuses for about a month, given a lack of consensus on how to spend the surplus, before it is reviewed during an all-member hearing on April 10, he said.
ANNOUNCEMENT: People who do not comply with the ban after a spoken warning would be reported to the police, the airport company said on Friday Taoyuan International Airport Corp on Friday announced that riding on vehicles, including scooter-suitcases (also known as “scootcases”), bicycles, scooters and skateboards, is prohibited in the airport’s terminals. Those using such vehicles should manually pull them or place them on luggage trolleys, the company said in a Facebook post. The ban intends to maintain order and protect travelers’ safety, as the airport often sees large crowds of people, it said, adding that it has stepped up publicity for the regulation, and those who do not comply after a spoken warning would be reported to the police. The company yesterday said that
NEW YEAR’S ADDRESS: ‘No matter what threats and challenges Taiwan faces, democracy is the only path,’ William Lai said, urging progress ‘without looking back’ President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday urged parties across the political divide to democratically resolve conflicts that have plagued domestic politics within Taiwan’s constitutional system. In his first New Year’s Day address since becoming president on May 20 last year, Lai touched on several issues, including economic and security challenges, but a key emphasis was on the partisan wrangling that has characterized his first seven months in office. Taiwan has transformed from authoritarianism into today’s democracy and that democracy is the future, Lai said. “No matter what threats and challenges Taiwan faces, democracy is the only path for Taiwan,” he said. “The only choice
CORRUPTION: Twelve other people were convicted on charges related to giving illegal benefits, forgery and money laundering, with sentences ranging from one to five years The Yilan District Court yesterday found Yilan County Commissioner Lin Zi-miao (林姿妙) guilty of corruption, sentencing her to 12 years and six months in prison. The Yilan District Prosecutors’ Office in 2022 indicted 10 government officials and five private individuals, including Lin, her daughter and a landowner. Lin was accused of giving illegal favors estimated to be worth NT$2.4 million (US$73,213) in exchange for using a property to conduct activities linked to the 2020 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential and legislative election campaigns. Those favors included exempting some property and construction firms from land taxes and building code contraventions that would have required
TECH CORRIDOR: Technology centers and science parks in the south would be linked, bolstering the AI, semiconductor, biotech, drone, space and smart agriculture industries The Executive Yuan yesterday approved a “Southern Silicon Valley” project to promote the development of an artificial intelligence (AI) and semiconductor industry in Chiayi County, Tainan, Pingtung County and Kaohsiung. The plan would build an integrated “S-shaped semiconductor industry corridor” that links technology centers and science parks in the south, Executive Yuan spokesperson Michelle Lee (李慧芝) said yesterday after a Cabinet meeting. The project would bolster the AI, semiconductor, biotech, drone, space and smart agriculture industries, she said. The proposed tech corridor would be supported by government efforts to furnish computing power, workforce, supply chains and policy measures that encourage application and integration
RSS