Candidates from the three tickets in the Jan. 16 presidential election yesterday participated in a heated debate organized by 40 student associations from universities nationwide on topics that concern the younger generation, ranging from housing shortages and low salaries to social issues.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Eric Chu (朱立倫), People First Party presidential candidate James Soong (宋楚瑜) and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) vice presidential candidate Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) attended the “dialogue with youth” forum at the National Taiwan University Sports Center. DPP presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) was unable to attend the event due to a prior campaign engagement in southern Taiwan.
“The DPP has proposed the construction of 200,000 public housing units over eight years, but that is an impossible task, because it would cost a significant amount of money and require at least 400 to 500 hectares of land,” Chu said in response to a question on public housing posed by the organizers. “Taipei and New Taipei City need public housing units the most, but where are you going to find 400 to 500 hectares of land in those regions? Where will you find the money for such a project?”
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
Instead of building new housing units, Chu said that there are more than 360,000 idle units in Taipei and New Taipei City, and he proposed encouraging the owners of those units to rent them out by granting them tax deductions.
The government could provide rent subsidies for a certain period of time, after which they would turn into subsidies for purchases of homes, Chu said.
“We welcome Mr Chu to look at our policy proposals, but he should look more closely at the details,” Chen said.
While the DPP is looking to provide 200,000 public housing units over eight years, the plan is not to have the government build all of the units, Chen said. Instead, some of the units would be provided by renting out idle units, while the government could encourage construction firms to build more housing by granting them incentives, such as an allowance for more construction space.
Soong sided with Chu on the issue, saying that other than providing incentives to encourage owners to rent out idle property as public housing units, the government could also impose punitive taxes on owners who are unwilling to do so.
Chen changed tack and slammed government measures to ensure a monthly salary of NT$22,000 for college graduates, saying that it was the Ministry of Education that in 2009 first proposed providing subsidies to businesses that pay graduates salaries of NT$26,190 — NT$22,000 after National Health Insurance and labor insurance deductions.
“A salary of NT$22,000 per month is a nightmare for younger people,” Chen said. “That amount is completely insufficient, so the government should help the research and innovative industries prosper to provide relief to the low-income job environment.”
If businesses feel hopeless about the future, they will not be receptive to raising wages for their employees, Chen added.
The NT$22,000 monthly salary plan was intended to help university graduates accumulate work experience, but it has been misused by businesses as the standard for a starting salary, which “is wrong,” Chu said.
He agreed with Chen that if the economic environment could be improved, salaries would also be increased.
Banner-wielding student protesters outside of the venue called on Chu, Soong and Chen to make their positions known on the retrenchment of former toll collectors, as well as a subterranean railroad project in Tainan, which is expected to result in the forced expropriation of more than 400 households’ land.
The protesters interrupted the forum several times, shouting slogans and clashing with police and national security personnel when they tried to force their way to the stage to pose their questions to the candidates after the event was over.
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