The public welfare lottery was supposed to kill two birds with one stone: provide underprivileged groups with job opportunities and pool profits for social welfare spending. However, the groups which the lottery is supposed to benefit are in fact made to carry the burden of additional financial risk.
After the 921 Earthquake, the profits from the first three rounds of lottery ticket issues were slated for disaster relief. With a 40 percent chance to win -- the highest in the world -- and the novelty of the newly established lottery, demand naturally exceeded supply.
From Taipei City's previous scratch-and-win lottery and Kaohsiung City's recent lottery, we know that underprivileged people are eager for the chance to sell lottery tickets. However, in this first round, three million tickets remained unsold to vendors and therefore had to be retailed through nine major banks. How could such a situation arise? This is because the lottery's regulations have created a difficult situation of underprivileged vendors.
Tickets distributed to vendors are non-returnable. The Ministry of Finance has even required vendors to register purchases two weeks before the launch of the next round and prohibited them from changing the size of their order. Even worse, the ministry prohibits vendors from hiring other people to sell on their behalf.
Worst of all, the ministry only distributes tickets in batches of 500, which means vendors will have to bear the financial loss for any tickets that remain unsold. The tickets cost the vendors NT$92 apiece and retail for NT$100, with a profit of NT$8 per ticket sold. Therefore, if you sell 460 tickets, you will make NT$3,680; unfortunately, you will have to shoulder the cost of the remaining 40 tickets (costing NT$3,680) you did not sell. Apart from losing your profit, you will still have to pay the taxes on your gross sales.
Also, while we can understand the rules against vending lottery tickets on sidewalks and in MRT stations, we believe the one against selling outside designated sales areas seems to cut down the vendors' opportunities. For example, do we really expect Aboriginal vendors to be able to sell 500 tickets in the Aboriginal areas they reside in?
Some of my disabled friends and I initially wanted to sell lottery tickets in the hope of making some extra income and to gain a sense of accomplishment. However, none of us registered after we read these rules, because we felt these provisions sidetrack the poor.
We agree with some of the ministry's rules, such as non-returnable purchases and prohibitions on selling at lowered prices. The lottery market may be jeopardized if vendors are allowed to hoard tickets, or to monopolize sales and sell at cut-down prices.
An islandwide run for the tickets in the first round may prompt disabled vendors to buy up all the tickets in the next round. One day after the lottery was launched, the Taipei City Government's Bureau of Finance received over 40 calls from disabled people wanting to join in the next round.
However, brisk sales have not stopped the criticisms. The chief of the city's Social Affairs Bureau also remarked: "The lottery sales regulations were not designed for disabled people. The non-returnable distribution system and the scattered sales outlets are relatively disadvantageous for the disabled."
However, we find the 500-ticket basic unit unacceptable. The ministry says vendors can make joint purchases, but this may very well spawn disputes among vendors, for they have to pay taxes for the tickets they buy. In fact, the solution to this problem is easy: the ministry only needs to lower the basic unit from 500 tickets to 50, or even 10.
Most people will also agree that a risk of NT$46,000 each month is quite considerable. People who are truly underprivileged will find it difficult to take this kind of risk for an 8 percent commission. Once the bar is lowered to 10~50 tickets, I believe many disabled, Aborigines, single parents and poor people will be able and happy to sell lottery tickets.
In the first round, some of the vendors bought as many as 20,000 tickets at one go (an investment of NT$1.84 million!). Moreover, the average volume purchased by the 17,000 vendors was 1,600 tickets, which translates into almost NT$150,000. These sums make us wonder if these people really are "underprivileged." Perhaps the real underprivileged are those who cannot afford to sell lottery tickets!
The ministry's approach makes us feel that it is taking the viewpoint of one who runs a gambling house and takes commissions from the winners. No consideration seems to have been taken on how genuinely to benefit underprivileged groups. Officials who do not understand the plight of these groups have been building castles in the air. Perhaps the government never wanted the underprivileged to participate in the first place, preferring to team up with "black gold" interests.
He Mo manages a Chinese-language Web forum (http://disable.yam.com.tw/forums.htm) on issues concerning physically and mentally challenged people.
The gutting of Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Free Asia (RFA) by US President Donald Trump’s administration poses a serious threat to the global voice of freedom, particularly for those living under authoritarian regimes such as China. The US — hailed as the model of liberal democracy — has the moral responsibility to uphold the values it champions. In undermining these institutions, the US risks diminishing its “soft power,” a pivotal pillar of its global influence. VOA Tibetan and RFA Tibetan played an enormous role in promoting the strong image of the US in and outside Tibet. On VOA Tibetan,
There is much evidence that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is sending soldiers from the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — and is learning lessons for a future war against Taiwan. Until now, the CCP has claimed that they have not sent PLA personnel to support Russian aggression. On 18 April, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelinskiy announced that the CCP is supplying war supplies such as gunpowder, artillery, and weapons subcomponents to Russia. When Zelinskiy announced on 9 April that the Ukrainian Army had captured two Chinese nationals fighting with Russians on the front line with details
On a quiet lane in Taipei’s central Daan District (大安), an otherwise unremarkable high-rise is marked by a police guard and a tawdry A4 printout from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs indicating an “embassy area.” Keen observers would see the emblem of the Holy See, one of Taiwan’s 12 so-called “diplomatic allies.” Unlike Taipei’s other embassies and quasi-consulates, no national flag flies there, nor is there a plaque indicating what country’s embassy this is. Visitors hoping to sign a condolence book for the late Pope Francis would instead have to visit the Italian Trade Office, adjacent to Taipei 101. The death of
By now, most of Taiwan has heard Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an’s (蔣萬安) threats to initiate a vote of no confidence against the Cabinet. His rationale is that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)-led government’s investigation into alleged signature forgery in the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) recall campaign constitutes “political persecution.” I sincerely hope he goes through with it. The opposition currently holds a majority in the Legislative Yuan, so the initiation of a no-confidence motion and its passage should be entirely within reach. If Chiang truly believes that the government is overreaching, abusing its power and targeting political opponents — then
RSS