Local governments in Taiwan’s five major cities and counties already have a serious amount of debt. The future mayors will need to have the skills to increase local finances or they will have to rely on funds and subsidies allocated by the central government, otherwise it will be very hard for them to deliver on the election promises they have been making. So why do they keep making these lofty promises?
For irresponsible political hacks, this is an easy matter to deal with. In the past, we have seen these types of politicians either fail to deliver on their election promises, blaming the central government, or borrow money to meet their promises, allowing future generations to pick up the tab.
How much money do the governments in Taiwan’s five largest municipalities owe? The figures that have been printed in the media about some of the administrations only reported the unpaid balances of those governments’ public debt; however, all cities and counties also have large “hidden deficits.”
Using information from an audit report prepared by the National Audit Office about total expenditures for city and county-level governments throughout the country, it is possible to calculate and produce statistics about the unpaid balance of public debt in all five special municipalities, as well as their hidden debt, to show a clear picture of overall debt and government debt per capita. This accurately shows the poor financial state that the country’s main cities and counties are in, which lets voters see how past governments have performed financially and indicates to candidates what sort of financial situations they will take over if they are elected.
Last year’s audit report revealed that up until the end of last year, of the eight cities and counties that will make up the soon-to-be five special municipalities, Taipei City had the highest overall debt at NT$291.7 billion (US$9.58 billion), followed by Kaohsiung City at NT$211.2 billion, Taipei County at NT$108.1 billion, Taichung County at NT$48.5 billion, Tainan County at NT$44.5 billion, Tainan City at NT$31.7 billion and Kaohsiung County at NT$26.4 billion. Taichung City had the lowest overall debt at NT$7.2 billion.
When we express these figures as government debt per capita, Kaohsiung City has the highest amount of government debt per capita at NT$138,245, followed by Taipei City at NT$111,873, Tainan City at NT$41,167, Tainan County at NT$40,263, Taichung County at NT$31,033, Taipei County at NT$27,899 and Kaohsiung County at NT$21,201. Taichung City again had the lowest government debt per capita at NT$6,725.
If we calculate these numbers based on the soon-to-be five special municipalities, we can see that Taipei City will have the highest level of government debt per capita at NT$111,872, followed by Greater Kaohsiung at NT$85,741, Greater Tainan at NT$40,634, Sinbei City at NT$27,899, while the lowest government debt per capita would be in Greater Taichung at NT$21,132.
With the elections little more than a week away, I would like to urge each candidate to face up to the financial problems in their respective governments and quit relying on the central government or future generations to pay their bills. They should come up with concrete and feasible plans to pay back their debt, as well as plans to raise funds for city and county development, as soon as possible. They should also promise to reach these goals during their tenure in office, otherwise they should promise to step down at the end of their term.
Yang Chung-hsin is a professor at Chinese Culture University’s Graduate Institute of Landscape Architecture.
TRANSLATED BY DREW CAMERON
Yesterday’s recall and referendum votes garnered mixed results for the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT). All seven of the KMT lawmakers up for a recall survived the vote, and by a convincing margin of, on average, 35 percent agreeing versus 65 percent disagreeing. However, the referendum sponsored by the KMT and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) on restarting the operation of the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant in Pingtung County failed. Despite three times more “yes” votes than “no,” voter turnout fell short of the threshold. The nation needs energy stability, especially with the complex international security situation and significant challenges regarding
Most countries are commemorating the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II with condemnations of militarism and imperialism, and commemoration of the global catastrophe wrought by the war. On the other hand, China is to hold a military parade. According to China’s state-run Xinhua news agency, Beijing is conducting the military parade in Tiananmen Square on Sept. 3 to “mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II and the victory of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.” However, during World War II, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) had not yet been established. It
A recent critique of former British prime minister Boris Johnson’s speech in Taiwan (“Invite ‘will-bes,’ not has-beens,” by Sasha B. Chhabra, Aug. 12, page 8) seriously misinterpreted his remarks, twisting them to fit a preconceived narrative. As a Taiwanese who witnessed his political rise and fall firsthand while living in the UK and was present for his speech in Taipei, I have a unique vantage point from which to say I think the critiques of his visit deliberately misinterpreted his words. By dwelling on his personal controversies, they obscured the real substance of his message. A clarification is needed to
There is an old saying that if there is blood in the water, the sharks will come. In Taiwan’s case, that shark is China, circling, waiting for any sign of weakness to strike. Many thought the failed recall effort was that blood in the water, a signal for Beijing to press harder, but Taiwan’s democracy has just proven that China is mistaken. The recent recall campaign against 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators, many with openly pro-Beijing leanings, failed at the ballot box. While the challenge targeted opposition lawmakers rather than President William Lai (賴清德) himself, it became an indirect
RSS