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DPP opposes issuing vouchers

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday that it opposed the government’s plan to issue coupons to consumers, insisting that a tax refund would be a better way to stimulate consumer spending.

The comments came after the Council for Economic Development said on Sunday that the details of the plan to issue consumption vouchers would be released in the coming week.

DPP Legislator Gao Jyh-peng (高志鵬) told a press conference that the government’s consumer coupon plan would not be available to couples with annual income of more than NT$1.2 million (US$40,000), which he said was unfair to dual salary families and middle class households.

He said the government had proposed that consumer coupons could only be used at stores offering receipts, benefitting those stores while ignoring others.

Gao said that the DPP caucus proposed a tax refund bill to the legislature in June, adding that a tax refund and cash subsidy would help poor families and stimulate consumption. However, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus refused to review the bill, he said.

Under the proposal, taxpayers with an annual income of NT$495,000 or less would have received a 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.

At a separate setting, DPP spokesman Cheng Wen-tsang (鄭文燦) said that it would be difficult for people living in the countryside to use the coupons because fewer stores in those areas offer receipts.

While the design, production and distribution of the coupons would cost money and time, a tax refund and cash subsidy would more quickly ease the burden on lower class, Cheng said.

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lai Shyh-bao (賴士葆), a member of the legislature’s Finance Committee, lauded the government’s plan to issue consumer vouchers.

“If [the government gives out] purchase vouchers or value cards to the public, people will be forced to consume, which will bring positive results,” he said.

Lai said granting people a tax refund would not be effective in boosting the economy because people might deposit the money in their bank accounts instead of spending it.

Meanwhile, Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) declined to give details of the policy when approached by reporters.

Liu said that the Executive Yuan’s Council for Economic Planning and Development was still deliberating on the matter.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY CNA
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