The Legislative Yuan yesterday on third reading passed the central government budget for this year, cutting 6.6 percent from the Executive Yuan’s proposed expenditure — the largest in history.
The budget proposal, which the Cabinet approved in August last year, set government spending at NT$3.1325 trillion (US$95.6 billion), with projected revenues of NT$3.1534 trillion — both record highs — working out to a surplus of NT$20.9 billion.
On Friday last week, the opposition-led legislature voted to cut NT$93.98 billion from the budget’s general provisions.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
During a 20-hour continuous session from Monday until yesterday morning, they continued to slash the budgets of government agencies, bringing the total budget cuts to about NT$207.5 billion.
Cuts from general provisions include a 10 percent reduction in water and electricity fees, and 60 percent on special expenditures.
Special expenses for the Executive Yuan, the Mainland Affairs Council, the Council of Indigenous Peoples, the National Communications Commission, the Control Yuan, and the ministries of the interior, agriculture, digital affairs, justice, civil service and labor were completely eliminated.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
There would also be a 3 percent cut on military equipment and facilities.
Media policy and promotion expenses would be uniformly cut by 60 percent, unless otherwise specified.
More controversial proposals include a 70 percent freeze on the Executive Yuan’s operating expenses, a 50 percent cut and 30 percent freeze on the Control Yuan’s operating expenses, a 50 percent freeze on the Ministry of National Defense’s submarine budget and a 50 percent freeze on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ (MOFA) operating expenses.
Photo: Lin Cheng-kun, Taipei Times
While the opposition defended the reductions, saying they were seeking to stop wasteful spending, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) at press conference yesterday accused the opposition parties of “indiscriminately cutting budget items” in an attempt to disrupt the political operations of the Executive Yuan.
The proposed central government budget includes new items such as NT$79.8 billion for public construction, NT$41.5 billion for national defense expenditure, NT$36.6 billion for a National Health Insurance financial assistance program, NT$6 billion to improve the medical industry, NT$4 billion for a national cancer prevention program, NT$20 billion for public housing, NT$13.6 billion for national pension, NT$12.6 billion for National Science and Technology Council research projects, NT$5.3 billion for local teaching facilities and NT$4.9 billion for childcare services for children aged two to six, Cho said.
There is also an additional NT$2.2 billion for salary increases for public servants and military personnel that needs to be allocated, he added.
It is uncertain when the more than NT$260 billion frozen funds would be unlocked, which would delay many national projects and policies that are scheduled to start at the beginning of the year, Cho said.
Freezing 50 percent of the defense ministry’s submarine budget would undermine international confidence in Taiwan’s resolve to defend itself, he said.
Freezing 50 percent of MOFA’s operational budget would halt half of its activities at a time when Taiwanese diplomacy must remain strong to combat Chinese pressure, he said.
Separately, Bureau of Consular Affairs Deputy Director-General Chen Shang-yu (陳尚友) said the legislature’s 10 percent cut of administrative fees across all agencies — including about NT$120 million for the bureau — might affect passport issuance from October.
The bureau estimates that 2.05 million to 2.09 million new passports would be issued this year, but after the budget cut, the remaining funds would only be enough to issue about 1.85 million passports, so there might be difficulty issuing new ones from October, he said.
He also reminded the public to check their passport validity date if they plan to travel during the Lunar New Year holiday as consular offices would be closed from Saturday to Feb. 2.
People who need to renew their passport must apply before tomorrow to receive it on Friday.
Additional reporting by Chen Yu-fu, Lee I-chia and AFP
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is expected to start construction of its 1.4-nanometer chip manufacturing facilities at the Central Taiwan Science Park (CTSP, 中部科學園區) as early as October, the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) reported yesterday, citing the park administration. TSMC acquired land for the second phase of the park’s expansion in Taichung in June. Large cement, construction and facility engineering companies in central Taiwan have reportedly been receiving bids for TSMC-related projects, the report said. Supply-chain firms estimated that the business opportunities for engineering, equipment and materials supply, and back-end packaging and testing could reach as high as
CHAMPIONS: President Lai congratulated the players’ outstanding performance, cheering them for marking a new milestone in the nation’s baseball history Taiwan on Sunday won their first Little League Baseball World Series (LLBWS) title in 29 years, as Taipei’s Dong Yuan Elementary School defeated a team from Las Vegas 7-0 in the championship game in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania. It was Taiwan’s first championship in the annual tournament since 1996, ending a nearly three-decade drought. “It has been a very long time ... and we finally made it,” Taiwan manager Lai Min-nan (賴敏男) said after the game. Lai said he last managed a Dong Yuan team in at the South Williamsport in 2015, when they were eliminated after four games. “There is
Democratic nations should refrain from attending China’s upcoming large-scale military parade, which Beijing could use to sow discord among democracies, Mainland Affairs Council Deputy Minister Shen You-chung (沈有忠) said. China is scheduled to stage the parade on Wednesday next week to mark the 80th anniversary of Japan’s surrender in World War II. The event is expected to mobilize tens of thousands of participants and prominently showcase China’s military hardware. Speaking at a symposium in Taichung on Thursday, Shen said that Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) recently met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a visit to New Delhi.
FINANCES: The KMT plan to halt pension cuts could bankrupt the pension fund years earlier, undermining intergenerational fairness, a Ministry of Civil Service report said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus’ proposal to amend the law to halt pension cuts for civil servants, teachers and military personnel could accelerate the depletion of the Public Service Pension Fund by four to five years, a Ministry of Civil Service report said. Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) on Aug. 14 said that the Act Governing Civil Servants’ Retirement, Discharge and Pensions (公務人員退休資遣撫卹法) should be amended, adding that changes could begin as soon as after Saturday’s recall and referendum. In a written report to the Legislative Yuan, the ministry said that the fund already faces a severe imbalance between revenue
RSS