The Taipei City Government is making a comprehensive evaluation of its finances, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said yesterday after a city councilor wrote online that the city had surplus tax revenue from the past eight years.
Chiang said that any extra money would probably be used to push forward the city’s policies.
Taipei City Councilor Miao Po-ya (苗博雅) of the Social Democratic Party on Friday wrote on Facebook that the city government under former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) had accrued surplus revenue of about NT$21 billion (US$683.77 million) from local taxes.
Photo: CNA
Miao linked the financial issue in Taipei to a similar situation the central government faces.
Legislators from across party lines have called on the central government to “return surplus tax revenue to the public” and Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) on Wednesday announced a plan to give each Taiwanese a one-off cash payment of NT$6,000 from surplus tax revenue raised last year.
Miao asked if the city government would also give each city resident a one-off cash payment of NT$8,500, as Ko’s Taiwan People’s Party and Chiang’s Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) have insisted that the nationwide surplus should be “returned to the people.”
The city government is making an inventory of its tax revenue and would explain the issue clearly when the evaluation is completed, Chiang said on the sidelines of an event to distribute spring couplets.
However, the revenue should be used to implement important policies, such as reducing the financial burden for young city residents or pushing forward social welfare policies, he said.
He did not elaborate when asked if the city would consider cash payments similar to what the central government is planning.
Turning to other matters, Chiang said that as the Dihua Street Lunar New Year market in Taipei’s Datong District (大同) would have stalls offering food samples again this year, the city government advises people to avoid eating while walking and to maintain social distance to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.
TRAGEDY: An expert said that the incident was uncommon as the chance of a ground crew member being sucked into an IDF engine was ‘minuscule’ A master sergeant yesterday morning died after she was sucked into an engine during a routine inspection of a fighter jet at an air base in Taichung, the Air Force Command Headquarters said. The officer, surnamed Hu (胡), was conducting final landing checks at Ching Chuan Kang (清泉崗) Air Base when she was pulled into the jet’s engine for unknown reasons, the air force said in a news release. She was transported to a hospital for emergency treatment, but could not be revived, it said. The air force expressed its deepest sympathies over the incident, and vowed to work with authorities as they
A tourist who was struck and injured by a train in a scenic area of New Taipei City’s Pingsi District (平溪) on Monday might be fined for trespassing on the tracks, the Railway Police Bureau said yesterday. The New Taipei City Fire Department said it received a call at 4:37pm on Monday about an incident in Shifen (十分), a tourist destination on the Pingsi Railway Line. After arriving on the scene, paramedics treated a woman in her 30s for a 3cm to 5cm laceration on her head, the department said. She was taken to a hospital in Keelung, it said. Surveillance footage from a
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
Another wave of cold air would affect Taiwan starting from Friday and could evolve into a continental cold mass, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Temperatures could drop below 10°C across Taiwan on Monday and Tuesday next week, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. Seasonal northeasterly winds could bring rain, he said. Meanwhile, due to the continental cold mass and radiative cooling, it would be cold in northern and northeastern Taiwan today and tomorrow, according to the CWA. From last night to this morning, temperatures could drop below 10°C in northern Taiwan, it said. A thin coat of snow
RSS