The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus has proposed slashing the monthly retirement pay for former presidents and vice presidents to NT$80,000.
DPP legislators Liu Shih-fang (劉世芳), Wu Ping-jui (吳秉叡) and Tuan Yi-kang (段宜康) have submitted an amendment to the Act of Courtesy for Former Presidents and Vice Presidents (卸任總統副總統禮遇條例) to reduce the monthly benefits as part of the ongoing pension reform effort.
The stipends are currently NT$250,000 for former presidents and NT$180,000 for former vice presidents.
Reform opponents have demanded that the payments should be halved to ensure equality, Liu said.
Vice President Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) has said that he and President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) would be willing to receive NT$75,000 per month in retirement, in line with the pension ceiling set for civil servants, Liu said.
Former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) was given a lifetime stipend when he left office, a 2006 amendment to the act reduced the entitlement period for other former leaders to 13 years and to four years for former vice presidents.
Former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) does not receive a stipend because a 2010 amendment stipulated that former heads of state who are convicted of treason, sedition or corruption lose all entities granted by the presidential courtesy act.
Chen was convicted of corruption and money-laundering in 2009 and sentenced to life in prison, although he was released on medical parole in January 2015 after serving six years.
He remains under confinement in his home in Kaohsiung.
The stipend period for former vice presidents Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) and Vincent Siew (蕭萬長) expired on May 19 last year, while former vice president Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) is set to receive NT$180,000 per month for three more years.
The DPP proposal is seen as targeting former vice president Lien Chan (連戰), who enjoys a better retirement package than other former leaders.
When he left office in 2000, the presidential courtesy act did not apply to former vice presidents, so Lien applied for a retirement pension under the now-abolished Statute Governing Retirement Pensions for Administrative Officers (政務人員退職酬勞金給與條例), which allows him to continue receiving pension benefits and the 18 percent preferential savings rate on pension payments indefinitely.
When the presidential courtesy act was amended to apply to former vice presidents, a grandfather clause was inserted to allow Lien to keep his NT$280,000 monthly stipend.
According to the Article 3-5 of the amended law: “If the Statute Governing Retirement Pensions for Administrative Officers has already been applied to any former vice president, the superannuation shall continue to apply.”
Liu said the 2001 and 2006 amendments were “tailored” for Lien’s benefit.
As a DPP lawmaker, she has a responsibility to support pensions reform and abolish unfair laws that improperly benefit specific individuals, Liu said.
“When all the retirement benefits of former presidents and vice presidents have expired, Lien would be the only one continuing to receive payments... We cannot but admire Lien for his unique existence,” she said. “The new amendment would scrap those absurd provisions.”
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