The Taipei City Government is to give elderly residents NT$1,000 (US$33) if they link their Triple Stimulus Vouchers with their Taipei Elderly Card, Taipei Deputy Mayor Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) said yesterday.
The Executive Yuan plans to issue the stimulus vouchers on July 15, with Taiwanese and their foreign spouses with residency permits eligible to purchase NT$3,000 in paper vouchers for NT$1,000, or link their credit card or electronic payment accounts to the voucher offer to receive NT$2,000 after spending NT$3,000, before the end of the year.
Many seniors have not been venturing outside or attending activities amid concerns about COVID-19, so they did not use the NT$480 monthly stipend on their elderly cards, which means the city has extra money to spend on them, Huang said during a visit to Neihu Flower Market.
Photo: Kuo An-chia, Taipei Times
The central government is to offer senior citizens who link their elderly card to the voucher program a NT$2,000 return after they spend NT$3,000, but the Taipei City Government would offer another NT$1,000, adding up to NT$3,000 in return, she said.
The city government encourages seniors to link their elderly card with the voucher offer as soon as possible, because it is worried that many of them would rush to buy paper vouchers as soon as they are offered for sale on July 1, Huang added.
The city government hopes that the more than 400,000 Taipei Elderly Cards would be used in ways that would help stimulate the city’s economy, she said.
Huang also encouraged other city residents to use their EasyCards with the voucher program.
More than 20 million EasyCards have been issued and it is one of the most common electronic payment systems used by city residents, but as the stimulus vouchers must be linked with a real-name registration system, those who want to use a voucher with their EasyCard would have to link it to the EasyWallet (悠遊付) program, she said.
Nearly 5 million people have signed up to receive the government’s NT$10,000 (US$322) universal cash handout since registration opened on Wednesday last week, with deposits expected to begin tomorrow, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. After a staggered sign-up last week — based on the final digit of the applicant’s national ID or Alien Resident Certificate number — online registration is open to all eligible Taiwanese nationals, foreign permanent residents and spouses of Taiwanese nationals. Banks are expected to start issuing deposits from 6pm today, the ministry said. Those who completed registration by yesterday are expected to receive their NT$10,000 tomorrow, National Treasury
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