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KMT caucus rejects tax-refund review

The pan-blue-dominated legislature yesterday rejected a motion by the opposition to fast-track review of a proposal aimed at turning half of the Cabinet’s special budget request into a budget for tax refunds to spur domestic demand.

The tax refund bill proposed by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus would have allowed taxpayers with an annual income of NT$495,000 (US$16,300) or less to receive a tax refund of NT$6,000 from last year’s tax returns.

The proposal would also have provided couples who earn NT$995,000 or less a year with another NT$6,000 in refunds and an additional NT$4,000 for each of their dependents.

The DPP caucus asked that the proposal be allowed to skip preliminary review, arguing that the measure would be more effective in expanding domestic demand than the stimulus package introduced by the Cabinet.

The Cabinet has proposed a special budget of NT$130.1 billion (US$4.28 billion) to help local governments finance a variety of spending programs, with a view to raising GDP growth by 0.45 points to 4.78 percent this year.

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus secretary-general Chang Sho-wen (張碩文) said yesterday that the DPP proposal conflicted with the Cabinet’s proposal to boost domestic demand.

He said the KMT caucus hoped to discuss the issue with DPP and Non-Partisan Solidarity Union caucuses in the next legislative session in September if the public and the government both supported the tax refund idea.

In related developments, the legislature resolved after a cross-party negotiation to postpone discussion of a proposal that would allow farmers to choose whether to join the national pension system at the first plenary meeting of the next legislative session on Sept. 23.

The pension program will be launched on Oct. 1.

However, KMT caucus deputy secretary-general Wu Yu-sheng (吳育昇) expressed concern that the government might not have enough time to inform farmers of the new regulation if the legislature approved the proposal on Sept. 23.

Wu said conflict could ensue if the government failed to promote better public understanding of the measure, adding that he was “very, very worried.”

Meanwhile, Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) and two high-ranking Cabinet officials visited Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) yesterday to solicit his help in passing several major budget requests before the current legislative session ends tomorrow.

Joined by Vice Premier Paul Chiu (邱正雄) and Cabinet Secretary-General Hsueh Hsiang-chuan (薛香川), Liu told Wang that the central government hoped to win the legislature’s full support for the state-run enterprises’ budget requests, the central government’s request for an additional NT$45.5 billion budget and the premier’s National Communications Commission (NCC) nominees.

“The legislature will deal with these proposals in the next few days. We acknowledge their significance and hope to gain the Legislative Yuan’s support,” he said when approached by reporters.

Wang said the legislature was expected to discuss the budget requests during the plenary session today since cross-party negotiations on the requests had been completed.

As for the NCC nomination list, Wang said the premier should lead the nominees in seeking support from legislators.
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