A group of DPP lawmakers said yesterday that they had formed an alliance to push for pay cuts for retired presidents and vice presidents, as well as legislators and senior government officials.
The legislators, including Chiang Chau-yi (江昭儀) and Lee Chen-nan (李鎮楠), said that in view of the government's financial troubles and the economic downturn, they drafted a provisional statute calling for salary cuts for legislators, political appointees and senior civil servants.
"While many neighboring countries have taken steps to cut back their senior officials' paychecks, we should follow suit to save public funds to finance economic development projects," said Chiang.
He said that the draft statute has received endorsements from a number of opposition lawmakers.
He added that, "When the time is ripe, we will present the bill for legislative discussion and passage."
Noting that President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) took the initiative to halve their salaries shortly after they took office, Chiang said lawmakers and senior government officials should follow their lead.
Under the terms of the proposal, salaries for retired presidents and vice presidents would be cut by 50 percent, while salaries for the presidents of the Executive Yuan, the Legislative Yuan, the Judicial Yuan, the Examination Yuan and the Control Yuan would be lowered by 30 percent.
The statute also proposes a 20 percent pay cut for Cabinet ministers and vice ministers, as well as for lawmakers, Control Yuan and Examination Yuan members, Grand Justices and retired generals and admirals.
Chiang said that more than NT$243 million could be cut from annual personnel costs.
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