Academics and central government officials yesterday expressed divided views over the Cabinet's motion to overturn amendments to a law governing the allocation of government revenue.
Academics say the central government is attempting to monopolize power and resources.
But officials say that the new changes would destroy the central government's long-term plan to make local governments financially independent.
The legislature is scheduled to review the Cabinet's motion on Tuesday.
If at least one half of the 225-member legislative body vetoes the request, the Cabinet would have no choice but to accept the original changes to the budget allocation law. The changes would then go into effect three days after they are promulgated by the president.
But if half the lawmakers fail to reach a final decision by Wednesday, the passed amendments become invalid.
Visiting Taitung County yesterday to solicit support for the Cabinet's request, Premier Yu Shyi-kun said much was at stake.
Yu said that the review of the amendments would give the legislature the opportunity to do a job it didn't have time for earlier this year.
"It gives the legislature an opportunity to carefully review [the changes], since it didn't have time to do so in the previous legislative session," the premier said.
The previous KMT-dominated legislature made the changes to the Law Governing the Allocation of Government Revenue and Expenditures, which were proposed by Taipei City Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (
Since then, the Cabinet has been criticizing the hasty passage of the proposal and mulling a way to overturn the law.
On Feb. 6, the Cabinet asked the legislature to strike down amendments to the law that would give local governments an additional NT$150 billion annually from the central government's coffers.
"We had no alternative but to request to overturn the amendments because we didn't have other alternatives," Yu said, adding that trying to revise the law would simply be too time consuming.
The premier yesterday also said local governments shouldn't be persuaded by opponents to the Cabinet's request.
"The allocation of government revenue is similar to that of family assets," Yu said.
"It's important and necessary to listen to what each and every sibling has to say instead of listening to only the big brother," the premier said, referring to the Taipei City Government.
Lin Chuan (
"One of the reasons that we dislike the idea of giving more money to local governments is that we'd like to see local governments be not only frugal in their spending, but also financially independent," he said.
If the central government gives local governments an additional NT$150 billion annually as the amendments mandate, Yu said, that would make local governments more dependent on the central government instead of finding their own funding.
But Yophy Huang (黃耀輝), an associate research fellow at the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research, disagreed.
"The relationship between the central government and local governments is like that between parents and their children," Huang said. "When children experience financial difficulties, most of them turn to their parents for help. Similarly, the central government should give local governments a hand when they suffer financial difficulties."
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