The Taipei City Government is making a comprehensive evaluation of its finances, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said yesterday after a city councilor wrote online that the city had surplus tax revenue from the past eight years.
Chiang said that any extra money would probably be used to push forward the city’s policies.
Taipei City Councilor Miao Po-ya (苗博雅) of the Social Democratic Party on Friday wrote on Facebook that the city government under former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) had accrued surplus revenue of about NT$21 billion (US$683.77 million) from local taxes.
Photo: CNA
Miao linked the financial issue in Taipei to a similar situation the central government faces.
Legislators from across party lines have called on the central government to “return surplus tax revenue to the public” and Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) on Wednesday announced a plan to give each Taiwanese a one-off cash payment of NT$6,000 from surplus tax revenue raised last year.
Miao asked if the city government would also give each city resident a one-off cash payment of NT$8,500, as Ko’s Taiwan People’s Party and Chiang’s Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) have insisted that the nationwide surplus should be “returned to the people.”
The city government is making an inventory of its tax revenue and would explain the issue clearly when the evaluation is completed, Chiang said on the sidelines of an event to distribute spring couplets.
However, the revenue should be used to implement important policies, such as reducing the financial burden for young city residents or pushing forward social welfare policies, he said.
He did not elaborate when asked if the city would consider cash payments similar to what the central government is planning.
Turning to other matters, Chiang said that as the Dihua Street Lunar New Year market in Taipei’s Datong District (大同) would have stalls offering food samples again this year, the city government advises people to avoid eating while walking and to maintain social distance to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.
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