The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee met for only three minutes early yesterday morning before giving a preliminary approval to the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures (財政收支劃分法), as debate continues over proposed amendments.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus whip Fu Kun-chi led legislators into the meeting room as soon as the doors opened at dawn, with KMT Legislator Jessica Chen (陳玉珍) serving as the meeting’s chair.
There were debates on Oct. 7 and 21, as well as further reviews on Monday, Wednesday and yesterday over the 22 proposals.
Photo: CNA
None of the drafts were submitted by the Executive Yuan.
The proposals seek to increase the proportion of taxes that go to local governments rather than the central government, which could reduce the central government’s ability to control national finances and fund major infrastructure, social welfare and defense projects.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lin Chu-yin (林楚茵) said that the KMT “occupied” the meeting.
The DPP’s stance is that such an important law requires consensus from local governments and the central government, Lin said.
The DPP in prior meetings had plenty of opportunities to speak, Chen said, adding that she hoped the sessions would be conducted peacefully.
Dozens of KMT legislators shouted slogans, while Taiwan People’s Party lawmakers held signs that called for more equitable resource allocation.
DPP lawmakers said they were disrupting proceedings.
Chen arrived at 5:40am, with the meeting scheduled to start at 9am. When it did commence, she read through the proposals and after no consensus was reached, adjourned the meeting at 9:03am.
Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) said that the Executive Yuan’s position remains unchanged, as it recognizes the differing opinions on the drafts and hopes they can be discussed in greater detail.
The central government has increased its disbursements to local governments by 85 percent since 2014, with total funding at more than NT$800 billion (US$24.86 billion) both last year and this year, Lee said, quoting Premier Cho Jung-tai’s (卓榮泰) recent statements on tax revenue.
Next year, total funding — including project-specific grants — would total NT$1.015 trillion, which would help ensure steady progress on key projects and improvements to public welfare, she said.
The DPP supports local funding and the local governments headed by opposition parties have benefited substantially from such policies, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference following the meeting.
The KMT and the TPP are working together to rush these amendments through by taking over the review process and bypassing committees, Wu said.
Several local KMT politicians, including Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安), Keelung Mayor George Hsieh (謝國樑) and Yilan County Commissioner Lin Zi-miao (林姿妙), have publicly praised their healthy municipal finances, Wu added.
Wu accused the KMT and the TPP of failing to consider how the central government funds projects for the good of the nation, such as cancer drug research, rather than how much each municipality would receive.
Their tactics have severely affected the lives of everyday Taiwanese, he added.
KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said that the DPP was prioritizing its own interests, and seeking to centralize fiscal control and resources, despite its ability to benefit from more local control over finances.
Chu thanked Chen for her efforts to decentralize finances and increase local autonomy.
There are local DPP officials who would also like to see the regulations amended, he said.
The proposals could halve the Ministry of National Defense’s budget, or a cut of NT$290 billion, despite promises by the KMT and the TPP that the military budget would not be affected, DPP Legislator Puma Shen (沈伯洋) told a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Foreign and National Defense Committee.
Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) said that its budget could not be reduced, as it symbolizes the country’s commitment to self-defense and would signal a lack of resolve to the international community.
Taiwan should increase the military’s share of the budget to boost deterrent capabilities and fend off “gray zone” provocations from China, which already strain the ministry’s finances, Po said.
Additional reporting by Shih Hsiao-kuang and Fang Wei-li
President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday criticized the nuclear energy referendum scheduled for Saturday next week, saying that holding the plebiscite before the government can conduct safety evaluations is a denial of the public’s right to make informed decisions. Lai, who is also the chairman of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), made the comments at the party’s Central Standing Committee meeting at its headquarters in Taipei. ‘NO’ “I will go to the ballot box on Saturday next week to cast a ‘no’ vote, as we all should do,” he said as he called on the public to reject the proposition to reactivate the decommissioned
In his National Day Rally speech on Sunday, Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財) quoted the Taiwanese song One Small Umbrella (一支小雨傘) to describe his nation’s situation. Wong’s use of such a song shows Singapore’s familiarity with Taiwan’s culture and is a perfect reflection of exchanges between the two nations, Representative to Singapore Tung Chen-yuan (童振源) said yesterday in a post on Facebook. Wong quoted the song, saying: “As the rain gets heavier, I will take care of you, and you,” in Mandarin, using it as a metaphor for Singaporeans coming together to face challenges. Other Singaporean politicians have also used Taiwanese songs
US President Donald Trump on Friday said that Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) told him China would not invade Taiwan while Trump is in office. Trump made the remarks in an interview with Fox News, ahead of talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. “I will tell you, you know, you have a very similar thing with President Xi of China and Taiwan, but I don’t believe there’s any way it’s going to happen as long as I’m here. We’ll see,” Trump said during an interview on Fox News’ Special Report. “He told me: ‘I will never do
CLAMPING DOWN: At the preliminary stage on Jan. 1 next year, only core personnel of the military, the civil service and public schools would be subject to inspections Regular checks are to be conducted from next year to clamp down on military personnel, civil servants and public-school teachers with Chinese citizenship or Chinese household registration, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. Article 9-1 of the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) stipulates that Taiwanese who obtain Chinese household registration or a Chinese passport would be deprived of their Taiwanese citizenship and lose their right to work in the military, public service or public schools, it said. To identify and prevent the illegal employment of holders of Chinese ID cards or
RSS