The Executive Yuan yesterday said it would not ask the legislature to reconsider a special act that includes a universal cash handout of NT$10,000 (US$334.27), but would seek a Constitutional Court review of the provision.
Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference in Taipei that the cash handout contravenes the Constitution, but did not specify when the Cabinet would file a court petition.
The provision, backed by the opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), risks infringing on executive powers, the Cabinet said.
Photo: Tyrone Siu, Reuters
Yesterday was the deadline for the Cabinet to request the legislature to reconsider the special act, which it received on Tuesday last week.
President William Lai (賴清德) is to promulgate the act today, Lee cited Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) as saying.
The Cabinet would propose amendments to the special act if necessary, after Taiwan and the US complete their tariff negotiations and a final rate is publicized, Cho said.
The legislature last month passed the Special Act for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience in Response to International Circumstances (因應國際情勢強化經濟社會及國土安全韌性特別條例), which was proposed in April to counter the effects of US tariffs.
The cash handout proposal raised the package’s ceiling to NT$545 billion from NT$410 billion.
Cho said the Cabinet believes the act is legally and constitutionally flawed, as the Executive Yuan was not consulted by the legislature, despite the bill significantly increasing government spending.
The Cabinet cited Article 91 of the Budget Act (預算法), which requires lawmakers proposing bills involving significant government spending to first consult the executive branch.
The Cabinet is to seek a constitutional judgement when appropriate, it said.
However, even if the Cabinet brings the case to the Constitutional Court, it might not move forward as hoped.
The eight-member court is unable to hear cases after opposition lawmakers passed a measure in December last year requiring at least 10 justices for adjudication, while twice blocking Lai’s nominees to fill seven vacant seats.
Meanwhile, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) city councilors across Taiwan yesterday urged KMT-led local governments also to issue cash handouts, citing the legislature’s precedent of using tax surpluses.
DPP Taipei City Council caucus whip Chen Tzu-hui (陳慈慧) said the Taipei City Government accrued a NT$5.39 billion tax surplus last year, enough for a NT$22,000 handout for each of Taipei’s 2.64 million residents.
DPP Taipei City Council caucus chief executive Yen Juo-fang (顏若芳) said the capital received the most tax revenue and central government subsidies among the six special municipalities.
As Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) greatly supported the central government handouts, he should have no objection in returning the surplus revenue to city residents, she said.
Taipei City Government deputy spokeswoman Yeh Hsiang-yuan (葉向媛) said the cash handouts are a matter for the central government to resolve, citing examples in South Korea and Singapore.
The DPP city councilors should also join the KMT in urging the central government to restore the NT$10,000 handout to all Taiwanese if they believe the argument presented by their caucus, she added.
In New Taipei City, DPP city council caucus convener Liao Yi-kun (廖宜琨) said the city had a surplus of NT$6.2 billion, or NT$16,000 per resident.
A New Taipei City Government spokesperson disputed the calculation, saying that the city had an NT$88.7 billion deficit last year and long-term debts of NT$94 billion.
The proposal would require the municipal government to access funds it is expected to receive under the amended Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures (財政收支劃分法), they said.
The central government has not yet allocated that amount, meaning that the city government has no funds to draw on, they said.
Speaking for the local DPP caucus, Taichung City Councilor Tsai Yao-chieh (蔡耀頡) said the city had accumulated a NT$41.5 billion budget surplus and sold NT$102.3 billion of public land under Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕).
The amendments to the revenue allocation law would bring the city a NT$26.2 billion windfall in annual tax revenue, Tsai said.
Taichung residents would receive NT$50,000 each should the KMT-controlled city government redistribute the budget surplus, as KMT lawmakers have proposed to do with the central government’s surplus funds, he added.
Hualien County Councilor Hu Jen-shun (胡仁順) of the DPP wrote on Facebook yesterday that he had in February proposed that the county give each resident a NT$51,000 handout, drawing from its NT$130 million budget surplus.
Hualien rates poorly in government efficiency and routinely leaves more than 40 percent of its revenue unspent, he said, citing the National Audit Office.
The Hualien County Government said it has not received instructions from the central government in reference to its subsidies and revenues following the recent legislative amendments.
The KMT Hualien County Council caucus said that the DPP councilors’ proposal did not include a fiscal impact evaluation.
Using a large portion of the county’s treasury for “helicopter money” would have negative effects on public construction and social welfare, it said, adding that the DPP is irrational in its demands.
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