Concerned that efforts to stimulate the economy will only increase the national debt, the Alliance for Fair Tax Reform (AFTR) created a “human national debt clock” on Ketagalan Boulevard in front of the Presidential Office yesterday.
Wearing purple T-shirts with numbers written on their backs, AFTR members lined up at the intersection of Ketagalan Boulevard and Gongyuan Road, together spelling out “13,800,000,000,000” — or NT$13.8 trillion (US$390 billion).
“This number represents Taiwan’s actual national debt — on average, each one of the country’s 23 million citizens has to shoulder about NT$600,000 of it,” spokesman Chien Hsi-chieh told reporters.
PHOTO: CHU PEI-HSIUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
While figures released by the Ministry of Finance earlier this month showed the current national debt to be NT$4.3 billion, AFTR member Son Yu-lian (孫友聯) said that the number was inaccurate as many “hidden debts” were not accounted for in the official figure.
“The government should deal with our national debt honestly. They need to stop tax reforms that benefit large corporations and refrain from making policies that will only make the situation worse,” Chien said. “We don’t want our children and grandchildren to be born into debt.”
Alliance members said they were concerned that the government’s policy direction would make the situation worse.
Since President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) took office, the government has increased the national debt with several projects, including plans to expand domestic consumption and the i-Taiwan construction projects. The recent consumer vouchers policy — which will require another NT$80 billion in public debt — is only the latest addition, Son said.
“With the NT$400 billion ‘economic stimulation’ program on the way, the Ma government has already added more than NT$726 billion to our national debt,” he said.
The AFTR urged the government to hang a real national debt clock outside the Presidential Office, “so that every person can see how seriously we’re in debt,” a press statement said.
Taiwan would benefit from more integrated military strategies and deployments if the US and its allies treat the East China Sea, the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea as a “single theater of operations,” a Taiwanese military expert said yesterday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a researcher at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said he made the assessment after two Japanese military experts warned of emerging threats from China based on a drill conducted this month by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Eastern Theater Command. Japan Institute for National Fundamentals researcher Maki Nakagawa said the drill differed from the
‘WORSE THAN COMMUNISTS’: President William Lai has cracked down on his political enemies and has attempted to exterminate all opposition forces, the chairman said The legislature would motion for a presidential recall after May 20, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday at a protest themed “against green communists and dictatorship” in Taipei. Taiwan is supposed to be a peaceful homeland where people are united, but President William Lai (賴清德) has been polarizing and tearing apart society since his inauguration, Chu said. Lai must show his commitment to his job, otherwise a referendum could be initiated to recall him, he said. Democracy means the rule of the people, not the rule of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but Lai has failed to fulfill his
A rally held by opposition parties yesterday demonstrates that Taiwan is a democratic country, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that if opposition parties really want to fight dictatorship, they should fight it on Tiananmen Square in Beijing. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) held a protest with the theme “against green communists and dictatorship,” and was joined by the Taiwan People’s Party. Lai said the opposition parties are against what they called the “green communists,” but do not fight against the “Chinese communists,” adding that if they really want to fight dictatorship, they should go to the right place and face
A 79-year-old woman died today after being struck by a train at a level crossing in Taoyuan, police said. The woman, identified by her surname Wang (王), crossed the tracks even though the barriers were down in Jhongli District’s (中壢) Neili (內壢) area, the Taoyuan Branch of the Railway Police Bureau said. Surveillance footage showed that the railway barriers were lowered when Wang entered the crossing, but why she ventured onto the track remains under investigation, the police said. Police said they received a report of an incident at 6:41am involving local train No. 2133 that was heading from Keelung to Chiayi City. Investigators
RSS