The legislature may approve a Cabinet proposal to distribute consumer vouchers by Friday of next week at the earliest, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus said yesterday.
“If everything goes smoothly and the bill wins the support of the Democratic Progressive Party [DPP] caucus, we would pass the special legislation by Nov. 28 at the earliest,” KMT caucus secretary-general Chang Sho-wen (張碩文) said at a press conference.
Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) announced on Tuesday the government’s plan to issue consumer vouchers valued at NT$3,600 to every citizen. By taking out loans equaling NT$82.9 billion (US$2.5 billion), the government is hoping to boost the nation’s economic growth next year by 0.64 percent.
Under the plan, by Lunar New Year on Jan. 24, Taiwanese nationals can claim the vouchers at their household registration offices by showing documents proving citizenship.
The expiration date of the vouchers will be Dec. 31 next year, while the face value of each voucher note has yet to be determined.
The vouchers can be used at any store with an official business registration, meaning vendors at night markets or traditional markets will not be able to accept the vouchers.
Liu said that the program does not exclude the wealthy because it is designed to “stimulate consumption to get the economy going” and “not to provide social assistance.”
In a bid to legitimize the policy, the Cabinet has to write a special piece of legislation for the program before requesting a special budget, as borrowing the funds conflicts with Article 23 of the Budget Law (預算法), which states that funds raised by loans must be used in capital investments, and Article 4 of the Public Debt Act (公共債務法), which places a debt ceiling on loans.
The bill will then have to be submitted to the legislature’s Procedure Committee before it can be put to preliminary review or to second and third reading.
The bill can skip a preliminary review if the legislature’s plenary session agrees.
Chang said the premier would be invited to report the details of the policy to the legislature after the special legislation is approved, while legislative committees would hold joint meetings to review the special budget requests intended for the vouchers.
If everything goes well, the legislature may approve the requests by as early as Dec. 12, Chang said.
Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) urged the Cabinet to address only the voucher policy in its special budget requests and to keep the focus of the requests simple.
Wang’s remarks came in response to the premier’s plan to also take out loans to increase investment in public works and to boost industries.
Wang urged both the KMT and the DPP to deal with the Cabinet’s special legislation and budget requests rationally.
In response, DPP caucus whip William Lai (賴清德) told a press conference that the government would spend between NT$8 billion and NT$10 billion printing the vouchers and sending them to recipients by mail.
If the government offered cash rather than vouchers, each person could receive NT$4,000 instead of just NT$3,600.
Lai said the government was trying to implement the DPP’s cash subsidy proposal, but to save face it was issuing vouchers rather than cash.
DPP Legislator Pan Meng-an (潘孟安) said that offering cash would reduce the cost of the program, boost monetary circulation and benefit vendors excluded by the voucher plan.
Also See: Lawmakers question voucher program
DRONE CENTRAL: Taiwan aims to become Asia’s democratic hub for drones, with most exports focused on high-quality military-grade models, an official said Taiwan’s drone industry is expected to expand significantly by 2030, producing 100,000 units per month and exporting half of them, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Current drone production capacity is about 15,000 units per month, but the industry can quickly scale up as demand increases, Industrial Development Administration Director-General Chiou Chyou-huey (邱求慧) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s drone output grew 2.5-fold last year to NT$12.9 billion (US$408.3 million) under a government program to develop the uncrewed vehicle sector, he said. The Executive Yuan in October last year approved plans to invest NT$44.2 billion into domestic production of uncrewed aerial
A signaling system malfunction disrupted high-speed rail (HSR) services beginning at 8am today, with trains temporarily reduced to three northbound and three southbound trains per hour as authorities conduct inspections. The malfunction occurred on a section of track in Miaoli County during pre-operation checks early this morning, forcing northbound and southbound trains to use a single track, the HSR operator said. The regular schedule has been replaced with three hourly trains offering only nonreserved seating in each direction, stopping at every station, it said, adding that business class cars would still have reserved seating. Departures from terminal stations are scheduled at the top
WARNING: China should stop engaging in actions that undermine regional peace and stability, as it would only build resentment among people across the Strait, the CGA said China has deployed more than 100 navy, coast guard and other vessels in waters from the Yellow Sea to the South China Sea and the western Pacific since US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) met in Beijing, National Security Council Secretary-General Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said yesterday. “In this part of the world, #China is the one & only PROBLEM wrecking the #StatusQuo & threatening regional peace & stability,” Wu wrote on X. In a separate post, he said Beijing was coercing Taiwan’s maritime domain, calling it illegal and provocative, after the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) expelled a
VERBOSE VESSELS: A CGA cutter and a China Coast Guard exchanged verbal barbs for more than a day in Taiwanese-controlled waters before the Chinese vessel left The Taiwanese and Chinese coast guards had a standoff near the strategically located Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the north of the South China Sea, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The two sides engaged in intense radio exchanges over sovereignty claims during the 33-hour standoff. China Coast Guard vessel 3501 eventually left the restricted waters, 26.6 nautical miles (49.2km) west of the Pratas Islands, at 5pm yesterday, the CGA said. Lying approximately between southern Taiwan and Hong Kong, the Taiwan-controlled Pratas are seen by some security experts as vulnerable to Chinese attack due to their distance — more than
RSS