The government should give each citizen NT$5,000 in cash and issue digital stimulus vouchers for specific businesses affected by the COVID-19 outbreak, the New Power Party (NPP) said yesterday.
The party joined the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party in urging the Executive Yuan to reconfigure its stimulus programs, after a survey conducted by the Consumers’ Foundation on Sunday showed that more than 95 percent of respondents wanted to receive cash rather than the proposed quintuple stimulus vouchers, for which people might have to pay NT$1,000 in advance.
Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) yesterday said that a preliminary decision had been made to waive the proposed upfront fee.
NPP Chairwoman Chen Jiau-hua (陳椒華) said that when former president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration distributed consumer vouchers in 2009 to stimulate the economy following the global financial crisis of 2007-2008, then-Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said it would have been faster and more effective if the Ma administration had distributed cash instead.
Su at the time added that distributing consumer vouchers would not help the economy at all, Chen said.
Tainan Mayor Huang Wei-che (黃偉哲) and Pingtung County Commissioner Pan Meng-an (潘孟安), who were both DPP lawmakers at the time, accused the Ma administration of using the policy to buy votes, she said.
Not only did they point to the high costs of printing, distributing and authenticating vouchers, but they also criticized vouchers as being difficult to use and less helpful to those in need, she said.
“The DPP had offered various criticisms of Ma’s policy, and we supported the DPP’s position at the time on giving the public cash, and believe that it still applies today,” Chen said.
“The National Development Council said that the Triple Stimulus Vouchers issued last year contributed to GDP growth of 0.12 to 0.53 percent. The DPP government should explain to the public the GDP growth it aims to reach through the distribution of stimulus vouchers this time and who should be held accountable if it fails to reach the goal,” she added.
Last year, the Executive Yuan also distributed a NT$600 voucher for art and cultural spending and NT$500 voucher for sports-related purchases, Chen said.
It should continue releasing such vouchers for industries that have been battered by the outbreak, she added.
The DPP government should not waive the NT$1,000 fee for stimulus vouchers simply because of the opinions of some DPP lawmakers, NPP caucus whip Chiu Hsien-chih (邱顯智) said.
This is not a competition with the previous administration, and the current administration needs to practically analyze the costs and benefits of the program, he said.
This year, the COVID-19 outbreak has hurt domestic industries the most, leading to rising inflation, unemployment and the number of furloughed workers, Chiu said.
Giving out cash would provide direct financial assistance to those who are not qualified to receive relief funds or do not receive adequate income, he said.
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