Commissioners and mayors of seven cities and counties yesterday signed a joint letter demanding that the central government adjust its loan capacity structure and debt ceiling limits so that local governments can avoid potential bankruptcy, amid a proposed amendment to the Public Debt Act (公共債務法).
Led by Chiayi County Commissioner Helen Chang (張花冠), the seven cities and counties urged the central government to increase the debt limit for 16 cities and counties, excluding the five special municipalities, from 1.43 percent of the average GDP of the previous three years, to 2.63 percent.
Hsinchu and Keelung cities, as well as Pingtung, Yunlin, Yilan and Hualien counties also sent representatives — lawmakers or deputy commissioners — to the press conference at the legislature.
Under the Cabinet’s proposed amendment, total public debt at all levels of government would be capped at 50 percent of the average GDP for the previous three years. A debt limit of 41.2 percent would be set for the central government, 7.25 percent for the special municipalities, 1.43 percent for the remaining 16 counties and cities, and 0.12 percent for all villages and townships.
Chang said the plan was unfair for the 16 cities and counties and has once again shown the imbalance of fund allocation between various levels of governments.
The debt capacity for the special municipalities would be 5.07 times that of the 16 cities and counties, despite the municipalities having a combined population that is only 2.23 times that of the smaller cities and counties, said Chang, who initiated the recommendation on Dec. 5.
The seven commissioners and mayors recommended revising the debt structure so that the central government would give up 1.2 percent of its capacity to the 16 cities and counties, Chang said.
They also recommended lowering the debt ceiling for local governments from 45 percent of the annual budget to 80 percent.
According to Chang, Yilan County, Miaoli County and Hsinchu City have all exceeded their debt ceilings, and five other local governments, including Chiayi County, are close to reaching their debt limits.
The recommended measures would not change the state of local governments’ finances overnight, but are expected to ease the fiscal burden, Chang said.
“No one wants to incur debt and we know the nation’s finances are in a difficult condition, but the truth is that local governments have suffered from unfair budget allocations for decades and the resulting financial hardship has impeded local development,” Pingtung Deputy Commissioner Chung Chia-ling (鍾佳濱) said.
DPP Legislator Liu Chien-kuo (劉建國), who represented Yunlin County at the press conference, warned the government against ignoring poorer cities and counties and only paying attention to the densely populated special municipalities.
“The Constitution stipulates that each and every citizen should be treated the same way and the government should not make some people ‘A-class’ citizens and others ‘B-class,’” Liu said.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was sentenced to six months in prison, commutable to a fine, by the New Taipei District Court today for contravening the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法) in a case linked to an alleged draft-dodging scheme. Wang allegedly paid NT$3.6 million (US$114,380) to an illegal group to help him evade mandatory military service through falsified medical documents, prosecutors said. He transferred the funds to Chen Chih-ming (陳志明), the alleged mastermind of a draft-evasion ring, although he lost contact with him as he was already in detention on fraud charges, they said. Chen is accused of helping a
SECURITY: Starlink owner Elon Musk has taken pro-Beijing positions, and allowing pro-China companies to control Taiwan’s critical infrastructure is risky, a legislator said Starlink was reluctant to offer services in Taiwan because of the nation’s extremely high penetration rates in 4G and 5G services, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday. The ministry made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which reviewed amendments to Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法). Article 36 bans foreigners from holding more than 49 percent of shares in public telecommunications networks, while shares foreigners directly and indirectly hold are also capped at 60 percent of the total, unless specified otherwise by law. The amendments, sponsored by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko
UNREASONABLE SURVEILLANCE: A camera targeted on an road by a neighbor captured a man’s habitual unsignaled turn into home, netting him dozens of tickets The Taichung High Administrative Court has canceled all 45 tickets given to a man for failing to use a turn signal while driving, as it considered long-term surveillance of his privacy more problematic than the traffic violations. The man, surnamed Tseng (曾), lives in Changhua County and was reported 45 times within a month for failing to signal while driving when he turned into the alley where his residence is. The reports were filed by his neighbor, who set up security cameras that constantly monitored not only the alley but also the door and yard of Tseng’s house. The surveillance occurred from July
‘SAME OLD TRICK’: Even if Beijing resumes individual travel to Taiwan, it would only benefit Chinese tourism companies, the Economic Democracy Union convener said China’s 10 new “incentives” are “sugar-coated poison,” an official said yesterday, adding that Taiwanese businesses see them clearly for what they are, but that Beijing would inevitably find some local collaborators to try to drums up support. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, made the remark ahead of a news conference the General Chamber of Commerce is to hold today. The event, titled “Industry Perspectives on China’s Recent Pro-Taiwan Policies,” is expected to include representatives from industry associations — such as those in travel, hotels, food and agriculture — to request the government cooperate with China’s new measures, people familiar with
RSS