President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration has ignored the severity of Taiwan’s worsening fiscal situation, while the discrepancy shown in the draft budget plan for next year poses major concerns for the administration’s fiscal outlook, academics said yesterday.
“Our suggestion is that not only are financial reforms necessary, but a new budget drafting process and method might be equally as important,” said Chen Jin-ji (陳錦稷), a researcher at the Taiwan Brain Trust think tank which organized a forum to examine next year’s budget.
The estimated budget deficit for next year is NT$214.4 billion (US$7.16 billion) — the largest since 2004 — and this is not solely attributable to the global financial crisis, but is the result of poor fiscal discipline, including thoughtless tax cuts, the squandering of public funds and the misallocation of resources, Chen said.
The government should face the reality of a difficult fiscal situation and try to generate concrete measures to resolve the problems, rather than making up numbers to deceive people, Chen said.
With Taiwan’s public debt reaching its ceiling of 40 percent of the average GNP of the previous three years, amending the Public Debt Act (公共債務法) and raising the debt ceiling could be an option to resolve short-term fiscal problems, said Su Chien-jung (蘇建榮), a professor at National Taipei University.
“However [the amendment] should go hand-in-hand with a more transparent report on the national fiscal status ... because there have been too many hidden debts that the government chose not to reveal in the past,” Su said.
In examination of the draft budget plan of the Executive Yuan, Su said that the discrepancy was intriguing.
“The estimated revenue from individual income tax increased by NT$50 billion when the economy was slowing. Is that possible? Revenue submitted by state-run companies’ decreased by NT$6.8 billion despite the raising of fuel and electricity prices this year. Does that make sense?” Su asked.
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
CHANGES: After-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during vacations or after-school study periods must not be used to teach new material, the ministry said The Ministry of Education yesterday announced new rules that would ban giving tests to most elementary and junior-high school students during morning study and afternoon rest periods. The amendments to regulations governing public education at elementary schools and junior high schools are to be implemented on Aug. 1. The revised rules stipulate that schools are forbidden to use after-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during summer or winter vacation or after-school study periods to teach new course material. In addition, schools would be prohibited from giving tests or exams to students in grades one to eight during morning study and afternoon break periods, the
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition