Several civic groups devoted to the welfare of underprivileged people yesterday urged politicians across party lines to "refrain from casually proposing increases in subsidies to elderly farmers, elderly citizens and elderly Aborigines [as a form of electioneering]."
"Social welfare groups are worried that the subsidy increases promised by senior pan-green and pan-blue figures recently will negatively affect Taiwan's social welfare system," said Sun Yi-hsin (孫一信), deputy secretary-general of the Parents' Association for Persons with Intellectual Disability.
"We see these increases as a negative development ... because our national resources will not be spent on those in need," he told a press conference.
Information presented by the groups showed that 16 bills calling for such increases have been proposed by legislators.
Three presidential hopefuls, including former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), Democratic Progressive Party Chairman Yu Shyi-kun and former premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷), have made similar pledges.
The bills proposed by legislators aim to raise the monthly subsidy to elderly citizens from NT$3,000 to NT$10,000, to elderly farmers from NT$5,000 to NT$15,000 and to elderly Aborigines from NT$3,000 to NT$10,000.
Sun said that based on the number of people granted these subsidies last year -- 732,229 elderly farmers, 795,141 elderly citizens and 20,547 elderly Aborigines -- the increases would cost the nation an additional NT$156.3 billion every year.
He urged the lawmakers who proposed the bills to withdraw their proposals in the legislature's Sanitation and Environment and Social Welfare Committee meetings today.
"Future generations will not be able to afford the increases," said Lu Yu-chin (
Lu said civic groups would rather see the government improve the funding of social welfare services offered to underprivileged people.
"The [increases proposed by legislators] will not make the nation's social welfare policy more coherent," she said.
"The purpose of distributing social welfare funds is to ensure the economic security of those in need," said Cheng Li-chen (
"Why can't we spend the increases on, for example, low income families?" she said.
"Citizens need a long-term social welfare plan, rather than a subsidy increase as a result of electioneering," Taiwan Women's Link secretary-general Tsai Wan-fen (蔡宛芬) said.
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