Subsidies for senior citizens may be postponed from its scheduled July 1 launch date due to potential opposition in the Legislative Yuan, Minister of the Interior Chang Po-ya (張博雅) said yesterday.
"The postponement is because only NT$6.5 billion of the `secondary reserve' is left, and tapping into the fund would require further legal procedures since legislators still have mixed views on this issue," Chang told the Legislative Yuan yesterday.
Chang said that if the plan is delayed, the government would reimburse seniors once the program is started.
The "secondary reserve" (
Meanwhile, Chang said that the "333" measure would exclude senior citizens already receiving other government subsidies and should only be awarded based on need, in an effort to avoid abuse of the fund.
Chang said the plan should still be studied in more detail by the Cabinet.
The measure is part of the "333 family welfare program" (
The two other measures in the program are free medical insurance for children under 3 and a 3 percent mortgage interest rate for young, first-time homebuyers.
Concerning the low interest rate loan proposal, Chang said the measure would be restricted to citizens between 20 and 40 years old. Within a year, an estimated 10,000 households would be able to benefit from the 3 percent interest rate for a period of seven years.
The measure is expected to be implemented on Jan. 1, Chang said.
The senior citizens' pension has been given priority by the new government and was set to take effect on July 1.
As a result, the plan will involve adjusting the central government budget for this fiscal year, which is to last until Dec. 31 this year.
The Ministry of Finance (
These include adjusting the existing budget allocations for social welfare spending, drawing money from the government reserve fund -- the so-called "secondary reserve" -- and making a new budget proposal.
Drawing on the reserve fund has been considered by the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS,
Most legislators, however, are strongly against this solution, arguing that the proposal is unlawful and has been raised "for convenience's sake."
Legislators warned that the estimated NT$15.3 billion required for the subsidy annually may affect government funding available for all other welfare programs or economic development projects, which is limited.
"The distribution of social welfare subsidies should be evaluated based on the actual availability of funding," said KMT legislator Eric Chu (
"As the new government has already promised a larger-scale national annuity plan within four years, the distribution of subsidies for senior citizens now might affect the planned implementation of the regular distribution scheme for the elderly," KMT legislator Chen Hung-chi (
Taiwan’s long-term economic competitiveness will hinge not only on national champions like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC, 台積電) but also on the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) and other emerging technologies, a US-based scholar has said. At a lecture in Taipei on Tuesday, Jeffrey Ding, assistant professor of political science at the George Washington University and author of "Technology and the Rise of Great Powers," argued that historical experience shows that general-purpose technologies (GPTs) — such as electricity, computers and now AI — shape long-term economic advantages through their diffusion across the broader economy. "What really matters is not who pioneers
In a high-security Shenzhen laboratory, Chinese scientists have built what Washington has spent years trying to prevent: a prototype of a machine capable of producing the cutting-edge semiconductor chips that power artificial intelligence (AI), smartphones and weapons central to Western military dominance, Reuters has learned. Completed early this year and undergoing testing, the prototype fills nearly an entire factory floor. It was built by a team of former engineers from Dutch semiconductor giant ASML who reverse-engineered the company’s extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV) machines, according to two people with knowledge of the project. EUV machines sit at the heart of a technological Cold
TAIWAN VALUE CHAIN: Foxtron is to fully own Luxgen following the transaction and it plans to launch a new electric model, the Foxtron Bria, in Taiwan next year Yulon Motor Co (裕隆汽車) yesterday said that its board of directors approved the disposal of its electric vehicle (EV) unit, Luxgen Motor Co (納智捷汽車), to Foxtron Vehicle Technologies Co (鴻華先進) for NT$787.6 million (US$24.98 million). Foxtron, a half-half joint venture between Yulon affiliate Hua-Chuang Automobile Information Technical Center Co (華創車電) and Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), expects to wrap up the deal in the first quarter of next year. Foxtron would fully own Luxgen following the transaction, including five car distributing companies, outlets and all employees. The deal is subject to the approval of the Fair Trade Commission, Foxtron said. “Foxtron will be
INFLATION CONSIDERATION: The BOJ governor said that it would ‘keep making appropriate decisions’ and would adjust depending on the economy and prices The Bank of Japan (BOJ) yesterday raised its benchmark interest rate to the highest in 30 years and said more increases are in the pipeline if conditions allow, in a sign of growing conviction that it can attain the stable inflation target it has pursued for more than a decade. Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda’s policy board increased the rate by 0.2 percentage points to 0.75 percent, in a unanimous decision, the bank said in a statement. The central bank cited the rising likelihood of its economic outlook being realized. The rate change was expected by all 50 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. The
RSS