The Executive Yuan decided on Wednesday to cut the amount of the tax redistribution fund
This was perhaps the strongest statement Ma has ever made in his political career. His angry posturing aroused some curiosity as to whether he was trying to change his "nice guy" image and warm up for a long fight with President Chen Shui-bian
Grudges over fund allocation are hard to settle because the issue is too tangled up in the person-to-person connections between the central and local authorities and the exchange of political favors between them, as well as the economic interests of individual politicians. But the roots of the problem are complex and historical.
Today, no one inside the government really understands how the fund allocation percentages were originally arrived at, and they are even less clear as to why the percentages have have remained in effect to this day without revision.
In fact, the fund allocations were a means for the central government to control local governments and politicians. Lacking their own revenue-raising powers they were dependent on central government largesse. If they played ball with the center, they received funds, 15 percent or so of which they were allowed to skim into their own personal political funds. Working through patronage, blind to dishonesty, such an allocation system was a natural greenhouse for the growth of "black gold" politics.
Former Taiwan provincial governor James Soong
We believe that transparency is the only way to systematize fund allocation and prevent a political uproar every time a new government takes over or new local leaders are elected.
Before they ask for money, local leaders should be required to put forth a detailed expenditures plan, which should be reviewed and approved by the central government, with the monies then disbursed by a committee like the appropriations committees of the US Congress. Another responsibility of such a committee should be to track the actual use of the funds. Only then can we stop politicians from pocketing and pilfering money.
The government should work to set up a transparent system that takes into account the differences in allocation created by the gaps between urban and rural areas.
In the end the ideal would be to allow local governments more tax-raising powers of their own. But this can only happen after an audit system is in place that successfully identifies embezzlement.
Taiwan is still carrying the baggage accumulated during 50 years of KMT rule. Now is the best time to leave this baggage behind and rebuild a new system. We hope the local governments will give up their regional and partisan prejudices and face up to the readjustments in good faith. Now that Taipei and Kaohsiung cities are getting their slices of the tax pie cut by NT$4.2 billion and NT$1.4 billion respectively, they must tackle the reductions through belt-tightening measures. Only through constructive competition between local governments can we ensure that the funds are used efficiently.
Apart from the first arms sales approval for Taiwan since US President Donald Trump took office, last month also witnessed another milestone for Taiwan-US relations. Trump signed the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act into law on Tuesday. Its passing without objection in the US Senate underscores how bipartisan US support for Taiwan has evolved. The new law would further help normalize exchanges between Taiwanese and US government officials. We have already seen a flurry of visits to Washington earlier this summer, not only with Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍), but also delegations led by National Security Council Secretary-General Joseph Wu
When the towers of Wang Fuk Court turned into a seven-building inferno on Wednesday last week, killing 128 people, including a firefighter, Hong Kong officials promised investigations, pledged to review regulations and within hours issued a plan to replace bamboo scaffolding with steel. It sounded decisive. It was not. The gestures are about political optics, not accountability. The tragedy was not caused by bamboo or by outdated laws. Flame-retardant netting is already required. Under Hong Kong’s Mandatory Building Inspection Scheme — which requires buildings more than 30 years old to undergo inspection every decade and compulsory repairs — the framework for
President William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced a plan to invest an additional NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.8 billion) in military spending to procure advanced defense systems over the next eight years, and outlined two major plans and concrete steps to defend democratic Taiwan in the face of China’s intensifying threat. While Lai’s plans for boosting the country’s national security have been praised by many US lawmakers, former defense officials, academics and the American Institute in Taiwan, the US’ de facto embassy in Taiwan, they were not equally welcomed by all Taiwanese, particularly among the opposition parties. Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman
President William Lai’s (賴清德) historic announcement on Wednesday, Nov. 26, of a supplemental defense budget valued in excess of US$40 billion is a testament to the seriousness with which Taiwan is responding to the relentless expansionist ambitions of Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), the Chinese Communist Party and its People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Lai is responding to the threat posed to Taiwan sovereignty along with US President Donald Trump’s insistence that American partners in good standing must take on more responsibility for their own defense. The supplemental defense budget will be broken into three main parts. The first and largest piece
RSS