“If everyone does that, stores and banks will get a bunch of protest-vouchers,” she said.
“Lavendersea” said she was opposed to the vouchers because they are “debts that we will eventually have to pay off.”
At a separate setting, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said Taiwan was the first country in the world to distribute shopping vouchers since the onset of the global economic downturn and that it was a good time to issue them.
Ma said that although NT$3,600 per citizen was not much, it was enough to stimulate domestic consumption and benefit retailers, especially ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday.
Ma said that several countries were closely watching the voucher program to determine whether they should follow suit with a similar program.
“I consider this a positive example for the world,” he said.
Ma collected the vouchers of all four members of his family yesterday morning, while Vice President Vincent Siew (蕭萬長), who picked up his vouchers in Taipei, traveled to his hometown of Chiayi City to spend them there.
After claiming his vouchers, Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) headed to Taipei’s Jianguo holiday flower market, where he spent two NT$200 vouchers and NT$900 in cash on plants.
Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) of the Democratic Progressive Party said she and other Kaohsiung City Government officials would donate their vouchers to civic groups.
Twenty-one Tainan County councilors of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) also said they would donate their vouchers to charity and urged the public to do the same.
National Alliance of Parents Organization chairman Hsieh Kuo-ching (謝國清) urged parents to take the opportunity to teach their children how to spend their vouchers wisely but should not decide for their children.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY FLORA WANG AND CNA
RSS