Stimulus coupons for Taiwanese and foreign spouses with residency permits can be ordered starting on July 1 and can be used from July 15 to Dec. 31, the Executive Yuan said yesterday.
Aimed at boosting domestic spending, the coupons worth NT$3,000 (US$100.04) are to cost NT$1,000.
“For our consumers, this is a very good deal as they get three times as much value for their money,” Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) told a news conference in Taipei.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
While the coupons are to have a wide range of uses, including at department stores, restaurants, book stores, night markets, beauty and hair salons, hotels, and to purchase travel and concert tickets, they cannot be used to pay for online purchases, taxes, fines, cigarettes, stock bonds, insurance, credit card loans, pensions, gift cards or to store value.
“Each of the more than 23 million Taiwanese is eligible for a coupon; so are the 150,000 foreign and Chinese spouses with residency permits in Taiwan,” Su said, adding that to benefit the most people, the government has not set an age limit.
The coupons are to come in paper and digital form, with the latter comprising mobile payments, electronic tickets and credit cards.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
“Similar to the system for mask purchases, people can purchase the coupons at post offices upon presenting their National Health Insurance cards, starting on July 15,” Minister Without Portfolio Audrey Tang (唐鳳) said.
At NT$1,000 per unit, the coupons are to contain four coupons worth NT$500 each and five coupons worth NT$200 each.
Coupons ordered before the start date can be claimed after July 15 at the nation’s four convenience store chains: 7-Eleven, FamilyMart, OK Mart and Hi-Life, Tang said.
Consumers can also choose a digital payment option, Tang said.
“From July 1, people can choose to [link their coupon order to] either their credit card, a mobile payment service or electronic ticket, which would then record all purchases made … from July 15 onward,” Tang said.
“Once people have reached the NT$3,000 threshold … they will be notified and receive NT$2,000 in return,” she said, adding that the sum could either be transferred directly into people’s bank accounts or be deducted from their credit card bills.
A program to allow people to claim the NT$2,000 from an ATM is in development, the minister added.
For businesses and shops that would accept the coupons, Minister of Economic Affairs Shen Jong-chin (沈榮津) said that those equipped with government Uniform Invoice numbers could cash in the coupons at post offices and banks nationwide.
“Businesses without invoice numbers will be assisted by shopping districts, night market management committees and councils, which will cash in the coupons for them,” Shen added.
In total, the coupons are expected to generate up to NT$111.2 billion in value, the minister said.
“Local consumption is expected to reach NT$70 billion with the coupons alone, but mobile payment operators are also proposing 20 percent reductions, which would be even further amplified as businesses launch buy-one, get-one-free programs,” he said.
POLITICAL AGENDA: Beijing’s cross-strait Mid-Autumn Festival events are part of a ‘cultural united front’ aimed at promoting unification with Taiwan, academics said Local authorities in China have been inviting Taiwanese to participate in cross-strait Mid-Autumn Festival celebrations centered around ideals of “family and nation,” a move Taiwanese academics said politicizes the holiday to promote the idea of “one family” across the Taiwan Strait. Sources said that China’s Fujian Provincial Government is organizing about 20 cross-strait-themed events in cities including Quanzhou, Nanping, Sanming and Zhangzhou. In Zhangzhou, a festival scheduled for Wednesday is to showcase Minnan-language songs and budaixi (布袋戲) glove puppetry to highlight cultural similarities between Taiwan and the region. Elsewhere, Jiangsu Province is hosting more than 10 similar celebrations in Taizhou, Changzhou, Suzhou,
The Republic of China (ROC) is celebrating its 114th Double Ten National Day today, featuring military parades and a variety of performances and speeches in front of the Presidential Office in Taipei. The Taiwan Taiko Association opened the celebrations with a 100-drummer performance, including young percussionists. As per tradition, an air force Mirage 2000 fighter jet flew over the Presidential Office as a part of the performance. The Honor Guards of the ROC and its marching band also heralded in a military parade. Students from Taichung's Shin Min High School then followed with a colorful performance using floral imagery to represent Taiwan's alternate name
COGNITIVE WARFARE: Chinese fishing boats transmitting fake identification signals are meant to test Taiwan’s responses to different kinds of perceived incursions, a report said Chinese vessels are transmitting fake signals in Taiwan’s waters as a form of cognitive warfare, testing Taipei’s responses to various types of incursions, a report by the Institute for the Study of War said on Friday. Several Chinese fishing vessels transmitted fake automatic identification system (AIS) signals in Taiwan’s waters last month, with one mimicking a Russian warship and another impersonating a Chinese law enforcement vessel, the report said. Citing data from Starboard Maritime Intelligence, the report said that throughout August and last month, the Chinese fishing boat Minshiyu 06718 (閩獅漁06718) sailed through the Taiwan Strait while intermittently transmitting its own AIS
CHINESE INFILTRATION: Medical logistics is a lifeline during wartime and the reported CCP links of a major logistics company present a national security threat, an expert said The government would bolster its security check system to prevent China from infiltrating the nation’s medical cold chain, a national security official said yesterday. The official, who wished to stay anonymous, made the remarks after the Chinese-language magazine Mirror Media (鏡周刊) reported that Pharma Logistics (嘉里醫藥物流) is in charge of the medical logistics of about half of the nation’s major hospitals, including National Taiwan University Hospital and Taipei Veterans General Hospital. The company’s parent, Kerry TJ Logistics Co (嘉里大榮物流), is associated with the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA), the
RSS