Taiwan Solidarity Union Legislator Yeh Chin-ling (葉津鈴) yesterday said the government’s budget for next year’s presidential inauguration was wasteful and urged all presidential candidates to pledge to reduce the cost of the ceremony.
Yeh said the Presidential Office has earmarked a budget of NT$41.31 million (US$1.25 million) for the 14th presidential inauguration next year.
In light of the government’s fiscal difficulties, Yeh criticized the amount as excessive.
She also said that in 1996, when Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) was voted the nation’s first democratically elected president, he spent just NT$7.08 million on his presidential inauguration.
Yeh called on all the presidential candidates in January’s election to pledge to cut the cost of the ceremony to less than NT$10 million, noting that there is no reason they should do worse than Lee.
Yeh said the 14th presidential inauguration would be the second-most expensive in the nation’s history, with the location alone costing NT$11.5 million, NT$7.6 million budgeted for miscellaneous event costs, NT$5.6 million for memorabilia and NT$3.06 million on the presidential seals and photographs.
“The total expenses for the event represent a growth of five times compared with Lee’s inauguration in 1996,” Yeh said, adding that since then the most expensive presidential inauguration ever was President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) 2008 ceremony, which cost NT$50 million.
Yeh said that such expense is unwise when the budgets of central and local governments are unsound, citing as an example several mayors and county commissioners having to apply for relief from the national government to pay year-end bonuses to their employees.
Yeh said that the national deficit is estimated at NT$6.1 trillion, while the hidden deficit is as high as NT$17.9 trillion.
“On all levels, governments spend big money on events and activities. This is like slapping your own face until it is swollen to pretend that you are fat,” Yeh said.
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