Tue, Jul 09, 2002 page3

• Academics weigh in on special municipality issue

  • By Tsai Ting-I / STAFF REPORTER
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  Academics say that dividing the country's resources more evenly should be a goal for the future despite the fact that citizens and politicians from Taipei and Kaohsiung special municipalities oppose the equalization of their cities' status with other cities and would rather not share their resources.

  The Ministry of the Interior released its proposal of equalizing the status of county and city governments and the special municipality last week in an attempt to divide the administrative and financial resources more equally. The proposal was submitted to the Cabinet yesterday.

  "Equalizing the status would narrow the gap between special municipalities and other cities and counties," said Chi Chun-chen (紀俊臣), former Civil Affairs director of the Ministry of the Interior and a political scientist at Taichung's Tunghai University.

  Unequal resource distribution has been a serious problem in Taiwan. Taipei and Kaohsiung, as special municipalities funded by and accountable to the Executive Yuan, have always received the greatest single share of resources from the central government.

  The rationale was that cities that had populations of over one million and were centers of economic activity had needs that were greater than and different from those of other governments. The practice, however, has resulted in wide gaps between the two cities and other local cities and counties.

  Under the Constitution, special municipalities enjoy a status equal to the provincial government, which funded all the other governments but was itself funded by central government. The system pre-dates the Chinese Civil War and was designed for China as a whole.

  The dispute about the division of resources, however, has worsened since the effective abolition of the provincial government in 1998. Since then all local governments, including the special municipalities have reported to and been funded by the central government, but the special municipalities continue to enjoy substantially larger revenues.

  Indeed, Taipei and Kaohsiung cities, with their joint population of 4.1 million, currently receive 41 percent of the Tax Redistribution Fund (統籌分配款) between them, while the other 21 counties and cities, housing some 18 million people share 53 percent. The Tax Redistribution Fund supplies the lion's share of local government revenues.

  The two cities, meanwhile, are entitled to hire more public servants than other local governments. According to the central government's statistics, one public servant serves some 40 citizens in a special municipality, while one public servant serves some 120 citizens in other cities and counties.

  Chen Li-kan (陳立剛), a political science professor at Soochow University said, "The special municipality system in Taiwan is questionable."

  Chen said that whether certain administrative districts should be ear-marked for higher levels of funding than others is a legitimate matter for debate.

  City and county governments -- formerly subordinate to the provincial government -- had voiced demands prior to the provincial government's demise for equal status with the special municipalities. Having not been granted that wish, they have fought for financial resources since 1998 -- such as their share of the Tax Redistribution Fund (統籌分配款).

  Aiming at getting more resources, many of the local governments have tried very hard to be upgraded to a special municipality over the past four years. Taichung City and Taipei County have been at the forefront of such campaigns.

  The MOI, however, put paid to any ideas of creating additional special municipalities after concluding, on the advice of scholars, that the costs of doing so would be prohibitive.

  Taipei opposes any reallocation of resources saying that it deserves more as the capital of Taiwan and that it would be unfair to equalize its shared resources with smaller counties like Penghu County.

  "Being a capital and being a special municipality are two separate issues, both of which are debatable. There should be and will be a special mechanism for equalizing resources. Taipei City government is just too nervous," Chen said.
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