The Presidential Office and the Executive Yuan have decided on “no countersignature and no promulgation” of an amendment to a government revenue allocation law passed by the Legislative Yuan, sources said yesterday, which would be a first in the nation’s history.
President William Lai (賴清德) would address the public over the issue tomorrow, the sources said, adding that Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) would also hold a news conference to explain the reasons for not countersigning.
Amendments to the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures (財政收支劃分法) passed on Nov. 14 state that local governments would receive a larger share of the central government revenue each year.
Photo: CNA
The amendments also stipulate a minimum budget of project-based subsidies to be allocated to local governments, which would increase expenses by about NT$264.6 billion (US$8.48 billion).
However, the Executive Yuan said the amendments “cannot be implemented,” as they would force the central government to increase borrowing for the 2026 budget by NT$264.6 billion, pushing it beyond the statutory debt ceiling.
The Cabinet last month asked the legislature to revisit the amendments, but the request was denied by the opposition 59-50 on Friday last week, with votes to uphold the original version.
The opposition said the real reason behind Cho’s rejection of the legislation was because he wanted to keep government revenues under the control of the central government, rather than distributing them to local governments.
After the motion was voted down, Cho suggested that the Executive Yuan might ignore the amendments, saying he was “under no pressure to execute” them, citing procedural flaws in their review.
In a Friday meeting held by Lai as Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) head, which was attended by all 51 DPP lawmakers and Cabinet Secretary-General Xavier Chang (張惇涵), the party caucus pledged full support for any countermeasure adopted by the Cabinet.
DPP caucus chief executive Chung Chia-pin (鍾佳濱) said that with the Constitutional Court paralyzed, Lai has asked Cho to consider not countersigning the amendment, in which case the president would not be able to promulgate the legislation.
DPP lawmakers unanimously agreed to counter what they see as potentially “unconstitutional” laws passed by the opposition, Chung said.
Lai said the amendments, along with the opposition’s blocking of a NT$1.25 trillion special defense budget, undermine national security, social stability, fiscal sustainability and civil rights.
“Under these grim circumstances, it is incumbent upon me to meet with the DPP legislative caucus to discuss how to respond,” he said.
Meanwhile, regarding amendments to the Civil Servants Retirement, Discharge and Pensions Act (公務人員退休資遣撫卹法) and the Public School Employee Retirement, Discharge and Pensions Act (公立學校教職員退休資遣撫卹條例) passed by the legislature on Friday, which would suspend cuts to civil servants’ pensions and reverse fiscal reform, sources said the executive branch also plans to adopt a “no countersignature and no promulgation” approach on the grounds that pension reform cannot be rolled back.
Lai hoped the Legislative Yuan would re-examine the amendments, so he has invited Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) to a “National Affairs Tea Gathering” tomorrow in hopes that Han would refrain from sending out the bill, sources said.
Han has declined the invitation.
CHAOS: Iranians took to the streets playing celebratory music after reports of Khamenei’s death on Saturday, while mourners also gathered in Tehran yesterday Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in a major attack on Iran launched by Israel and the US, throwing the future of the Islamic republic into doubt and raising the risk of regional instability. Iranian state television and the state-run IRNA news agency announced the 86-year-old’s death early yesterday. US President Donald Trump said it gave Iranians their “greatest chance” to “take back” their country. The announcements came after a joint US and Israeli aerial bombardment that targeted Iranian military and governmental sites. Trump said the “heavy and pinpoint bombing” would continue through the week or as long
TRUST: The KMT said it respected the US’ timing and considerations, and hoped it would continue to honor its commitments to helping Taiwan bolster its defenses and deterrence US President Donald Trump is delaying a multibillion-dollar arms sale to Taiwan to ensure his visit to Beijing is successful, a New York Times report said. The weapons sales package has stalled in the US Department of State, the report said, citing US officials it did not identify. The White House has told agencies not to push forward ahead of Trump’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), it said. The two last month held a phone call to discuss trade and geopolitical flashpoints ahead of the summit. Xi raised the Taiwan issue and urged the US to handle arms sales to
BIG SPENDERS: Foreign investors bought the most Taiwan equities since 2005, signaling confidence that an AI boom would continue to benefit chipmakers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) market capitalization swelled to US$2 trillion for the first time following a 4.25 percent rally in its American depositary receipts (ADR) overnight, putting the world’s biggest contract chipmaker sixth on the list of the world’s biggest companies by market capitalization, just behind Amazon.com Inc. The site CompaniesMarketcap.com ranked TSMC ahead of Saudi Aramco and Meta Platforms Inc. The Taiwanese company’s ADRs on Tuesday surged to US$385.75 on the New York Stock Exchange, as strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) applications led to chip supply constraints and boost revenue growth to record-breaking levels. Each TSMC ADR represents
Pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai’s (黎智英) fraud conviction and prison sentence were yesterday overturned by a Hong Kong court, in a surprise legal decision that comes soon after Lai was jailed for 20 years on a separate national security charge. Judges Jeremy Poon (潘兆初), Anthea Pang (彭寶琴) and Derek Pang (彭偉昌) said in the judgement that they allowed the appeal from Lai, and another defendant in the case, to proceed, as a lower court judge had “erred.” “The Court of Appeal gave them leave to appeal against their conviction, allowed their appeals, quashed the convictions and set aside the sentences,” the judges
RSS