The Cabinet yesterday passed a proposal that would increase a monthly subsidy for elderly farmers by NT$316, an amount critics said was too small to make a difference.
Under the proposal, the government will adjust the monthly subsidy for farmers above the age of 65 and eight types of subsidies for disadvantaged groups every four years in accordance with fluctuations in the consumer price index (CPI).
If the amendments are approved by the legislature today, the monthly subsidy for elderly farmers will increase to NT$6,316 to reflect the 5.27 percent average increase in the CPI since the last time the subsidy was raised by NT$1,000 in 2007.
The proposal includes a special clause to exclude wealthy farmers from receiving the subsidy, but this will not affect existing pension recipients.
The government has said that systematizing the pensions scheme would prevent a bidding war among political parties before the January elections.
It also claims the nation’s fiscal position is strained.
Those two positions have been criticized by the Democratic Progressive Party, some Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers, as well as some from the Non-Partisan Solidarity Union (NPSU), a KMT ally.
NPSU Chairman Lin Pin-kuan (林炳坤) said that while he did not oppose the systematization of the pensions, the NT$316 increase was “disappointing” and showed the government’s “lack of sincerity.”
The elderly farmers’ subsidy plan was introduced in 1995, offering a monthly stipend of NT$3,000, with the amount increased by NT$1,000 each in 2004, 2006 and 2007 — all before elections.
“The increase in the subsidy this time should not be less than NT$1,000,” Lin said.
KMT Legislator Chung Shao-ho (鍾紹和), who has put forward an amendment that suggested a NT$10,000 increase, said NT$316 was downright “unacceptable.”
“I would agree to an incremental increase to achieve the goal of NT$10,000 by stages, but at NT$316, the government might just as well leave it at NT$6,000,” Chung said.
KMT Legislator Wong Chung-chun (翁重鈞) said that every day his office in Chiayi County was packed with people complaining about the government’s subsidy proposal, adding that he would not back away from the amendment he initiated to increase the subsidy by NT$2,500.
DPP caucus whip Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯) said the party caucus would ask for an article-by-article vote when the proposal is deliberated in the legislature.
“If the government’s proposal is passed, it will be an insult to farmers because the raise would only be enough to buy a bowl of the cheapest instant noodles a day,” Tsai said.
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