Executive Yuan officials yesterday promised that no local government would receive less revenue from central government in the next fiscal year than this year.
Executive Yuan Secretary-General Lin Join-sane (林中森) made the promise at a press conference held with Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) Director-General Shih Su-mei (石素梅) and Deputy Minister of Finance William Tseng (曾銘宗) as the central government seeks to dispel concerns over tax revenue allocation after a new distribution system is devised.
The Executive Yuan has drafted a distribution system as part of its amendments to the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures (財政收支劃分法). The proposal, still pending in the legislature, aims to adjust budget allocations following the redrawing of administrative districts, which comes into effect on Dec. 25.
New special municipalities will emerge as the result of the district remapping. They will include Sinbei City (the upgraded Taipei County), Greater Taichung (a merger of Taichung City and Taichung County), Greater Tainan (a merger of Tainan City and Tainan County) and Greater Kaohsiung (a merger of Kaohsiung City and Kaohsiung County). Taipei City is already a special municipality.
Each of the five special municipalities will receive more central government tax revenues than the remaining 17 counties and cities.
After reports that some counties and cities may end up receiving less revenue than initially planned, the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) Sinbei mayoral candidate Eric Chu (朱立倫) yesterday criticized the DGBAS, saying it should be clear how much central government revenue Sinbei will receive.
“We should not get 1 cent less than what we are entitled to from the central government,” he said during a campaign stop. “I will do everything in my power to ensure that Sinbei City receives enough financial resources.”
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson and Sinbei mayoral candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said that she would ask central government for “not a cent less” than the NT$60.3 billion (US$1.900 billion) she said the municipality is entitled to next year.
Her campaign spokesperson, Hsieh Hsin-ni (謝欣霓), said Tsai would continue to ask that DPP lawmakers deal with the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures in the legislature.
Saying that the central government would allocate tax revenues in a way that would be “fair and rational,” Lin said that each county and city will receive a larger portion of tax revenue than they currently get.
“Each and every county and city has its opinions, because they all wish to garner more funds from the central government,” he said. “To ensure a fair distribution, elements such as population, the size of each administrative district and their specific financial situations will be factored in.”
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY VINCENT Y. CHAO AND STAFF WRITER
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