The Legislative Yuan’s bill on pension reform, passed on Tuesday, violates legal procedures and would be hard to implement, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said on Facebook on Tuesday evening.
The legislature passed an amendment to the Police Personnel Management Act (警察人員人事條例) stipulating that the pension for police and firefighters as well as coast guard, immigration and air corps personnel would be based on the retiree’s years of service.
Those who have served 15 years would have an income replacement ratio of 43.25 percent.
Photo: CNA
Those who have served 36 years would receive the maximum income replacement ratio of 80 percent.
The amendment also stipulates that the new replacement rate would apply to those who retired prior to the amendment’s implementation.
According to Article 91 of the Budget Act (預算法), legislators should seek approval from the Executive Yuan for bills that “largely increase annual expenditures or decrease annual revenues,” Cho said.
However, the legislature failed to fulfill these requirements, passing an amendment that causes a national fiscal gap and increases expenditures without consulting the Executive Yuan, Cho said.
The legislature’s forced amendment of the law violates legal principles and undermines previous negotiations on the central government’s budget, he said.
The Executive Yuan cannot accept this, and the bill would be hard to implement, he added.
According to the Ministry of Civil Service’s calculations, this amendment would cause the retirement fund to be exhausted two years earlier, Cabinet spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) said.
It is estimated that over the next 50 years, the combined reduction in fund income and increase in expenditures would amount to more than NT$170 billion (US$5.17 billion), Lee said.
This fiscal gap would need to be covered by the Executive Yuan’s public service budget, meaning that taxpayers would bear this burden, she said.
The Executive Yuan would explore possible constitutional remedies in accordance with powers granted by the Constitution, she added.
Solely raising the replacement rate for police officers’ retirement income violates the constitutional principle of equality, which requires fair treatment of all members under the public service pension system, the Ministry of Civil Service said in a statement on Tuesday.
Police officers and other civil servants, including those in high-risk jobs, are subject to the same pension laws and contribute at the same rates, the ministry said.
Comparisons to the 90 percent ratio for military personnel are inappropriate, it said.
Even with a higher replacement ratio, military personnel’s actual monthly retirement income is lower than that of police officers of equivalent rank due to the military’s maximum service term limits, it said.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS