A Ministry of Economic Affairs estimate of the economic benefits created by a stimulus coupon program is unrealistic, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers said yesterday, calling it an attempt to scam the public and self-delusion by the government.
Minister of Economic Affairs Shen Jong-chin (沈榮津) on Tuesday estimated that the program would create NT$100 billion (US$3.3 billion) in economic benefits, which KMT Legislator William Tseng (曾銘宗) yesterday said was out of touch with reality and baseless.
KMT Legislator Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said at a news conference in Taipei that the public is more concerned about the assistance the program would provide than its name, adding that people remain baffled about how the esoteric system would function.
Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei Times
A month-long delay in promulgating the policy to July 15 could cause even more businesses to close, as people might defer spending until after obtaining the coupons, he said.
The coupons announced so far would only be available in NT$200 and NT$500 denominations, ensuring that they would only be used at larger establishments, such as department stores, while completely overlooking the needs of smaller businesses, Chiang said.
While the program would result in NT$1,000 deposits into the accounts of people from low-to-middle-income families, they would still need to withdraw the money to exchange it for the coupons, making it bothersome, he said.
The program is unfriendly, excludes poor people and could prove to be a political disaster in exchange for only a temporary respite for officials, Chiang said, adding that officials who drafted the policy were too far removed from the public and everyday life.
KMT caucus whip Lin Wei-chou (林為洲) said that the government should place more effort into tightening border controls instead of pushing a stimulus package that would only create more strife and increase government spending.
The program is unbecoming, as the government seems to be offering the world when it is only providing NT$2,000 in stimulus coupons, for which NT$1,000 must first be spent, he said.
KMT Legislator Lin Yi-hua (林奕華) called the policy a triple deception: a deception of the public and officials deceiving themselves after deceiving deities.
Her comment about deceiving deities refers to Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) in 2010 going back on his word that he would not run for New Taipei City mayor. Su was commissioner of then-Taipei County from 1997 to 2004.
Tseng said that as the program has not resolved the potential problem of the substitution effect, the policy’s efficacy is dubious.
He predicted that the program would perform worse than consumer vouchers issued by the administration of then-president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) in 2009.
Prior to the news conference, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus director-general Cheng Yun-peng (鄭運鵬) wrote on Facebook that the KMT has always been a proponent of the government handing out cash, while the DPP aims to stimulate the economy and prevent the substitution effect from occurring.
The program offers people an incentive to spend, because they would have already “spent” NT$1,000 to obtain the coupons, and encourages larger purchases, as using the coupons for everyday goods would cause the substitution effect, he wrote.
The KMT finding faults with the coupon program is an admission that there is a possibility people would fail to use cash handouts or that cash handouts would trigger the substitution effect, he added.
FEW REMAIN: Conservationists tried to stop the demolition, but to no avail, and the owner cannot be fined, as the structure was not listed as a historical building One of the few remaining Japanese colonial-era granaries in Taiwan was dismantled by its owner on Friday, prompting outrage from conservationists. The granary, which was at No. 16, Lane 11, Hangzhou S Rd Sec 1 in Taipei, belonged to Taiwan Takushoku Corp during the colonial era, conservationist Chang Wan-lin (張琬琳) said, adding that she and others had been collecting information to reapply to have the building protected as a historical structure. During the colonial era, the granary served the area from Monga (艋舺) to what is now Songshan District (松山) in the north, she said. “Back then the eastern part
SEEING THE POSITIVE: A majority of respondents in Taiwan said that they favored Trump because they think Taiwan-US ties would improve with him Among eight Asia-Pacific countries and regions, only Taiwan prefers US President Donald Trump over his challenger, former US vice president Joe Biden, in the upcoming US presidential election, a survey released on Thursday showed. According to the poll published by UK-based market research firm YouGov, 42 percent of Taiwanese favor Trump in the Nov. 3 election, while 30 percent back Biden and 28 percent have no opinion. In contrast, respondents in Malaysia favor Biden over Trump 62 percent to 9 percent, and in Singapore by 66 percent to 12 percent, the survey showed. Biden also led Trump in Australia (60 percent to 21
TROUBLEMAKER: The missiles, capable of striking up to 2,000km away, would likely be used to deter other nations from coming to Taiwan’s aid, a legislator said The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has reportedly deployed advanced hypersonic missiles along China’s southeast coast, which Taiwan’s missile defense system might have difficulty intercepting, an analyst said yesterday. Citing an unnamed military source, the South China Morning Post said that the missile bases on the coasts of China’s Fujian and Zhejiang provinces have been upgraded and are stocked with DF-17 missiles, equipped with hypersonic glide vehicles. “The DF-17 hypersonic missile will gradually replace the old DF-11s and DF-15s that were deployed in the southeast region for decades,” said the source, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the topic. “The
AIR CONTROL INCIDENT: The Hong Kong side said it ‘cannot accept this aircraft,’ ordering it to ascend to an unsafe altitude and forcing it to return to Kaohsiung The Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) on Friday disclosed a full transcript of the communications between Taiwanese and Hong Kong air traffic controllers, rebutting the latter’s claim that a Taiwanese plane had voluntarily abandoned its flight path. Hong Kong denied permission for the plane to proceed to the disputed Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島), which are claimed by both Taiwan and China, the CAA said. The incident happened on Thursday when a civil aircraft chartered by the military was advised by Hong Kong air traffic controllers to not enter the airspace over a group of islands in the South China Sea
RSS