The Executive Yuan yesterday shot down a proposal by the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC,
The proposal, which would have given local government coffers an extra NT$1 billion, was rejected because it lacks any legal basis, the Executive Yuan said.
Earlier this month, Lin Chuan (林全), head of the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (主計處), said local governments were suffering a cash shortfall of about NT$20 billion. Ten local governments have petitioned for additional funding because they face difficulties paying their employees New Year bonuses. Some local authorities have even said they may not be able to cover their December and January staff salaries.
The MOTC says that some local governments have called for allocation of greater revenues from traffic fines collected by the ministry. Therefore, the MOTC proposed that the Executive Yuan adjust the allocation of funds from traffic fines.
As there is currently no law specifically governing the allocation of income from traffic fines, current practice is based on an agreement between the government agencies involved.
Currently only Taipei and Kaohsiung, the two special municipalities under the direct jurisdiction of the central government, have full rights to allocate all revenue from the fines.
The Highways Bureau (
The ministry proposed modifying current allocation of funds from traffic fines to give 75 percent of all fines collected to local governments and the remaining 25 percent to the central government.
Such a change would create over NT$1 billion for local governments.
The Highways Bureau receives nearly NT$10 billion in traffic fines on average each year.
The Executive Yuan has urged the ministry to propose related legislation before 2002.
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