The Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to disburse NT$380 billion (US$12.5 billion) in tax surplus to boost the economy, including a cash subsidy of NT$6,000 to Taiwanese and eligible foreign residents.
The proposal is to be sent to the legislature for approval.
The plan would allow the government to use last year’s tax surplus from 2023 to 2025 to provide economic incentives.
Photo: Tien Yu-hua, Taipei Times
This includes the allocation of NT$141.7 billion — more than one-third of the total — for disbursement to all Taiwanese and eligible foreign residents, who would each receive NT$6,000 in cash, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said.
The proposal would also allocate NT$30 billion to the labor insurance fund, NT$20 billion to the National Health Insurance Administration and NT$50 billion to state-run Taiwan Power Co (Taipower), which have incurred operational losses, senior DGBAS official Hsu Yung-yi (許永議) told a news conference in Taipei.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs would receive NT$31.7 billion to help fund its subsidies to small and medium-sized enterprises, and the manufacturing sector, Hsu said.
The plan would allocate NT$10.3 billion to the Ministry of Health and Welfare to fund financial assistance programs for low-income and lower-middle-income households, people with disabilities and other disadvantaged groups, Hsu said.
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications would receive NT$27.4 billion to subsidize public transportation fares and to provide incentives for foreign tourists to visit Taiwan, he added.
Except for NT$1.3 billion that would be held in reserve, the remaining tax surplus revenues would go to the education, culture and interior ministries for subsidies and programs, Hsu said.
National Development Council Minister Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said that pending legislative approval, the budget would provide timely resources amid “serious challenges” to Taiwan’s economy due to projected headwinds in the global economy.
In light of such factors, the government has lowered its GDP growth forecast for this year by 0.63 percentage points to 2.12 percent, Kung said, citing DGBAS figures released on Wednesday.
He said that the aim of the cash subsidies and other incentives is to boost domestic spending and contribute at least 0.45 percentage points to this year’s domestic economic growth.
Meanwhile, Vice Premier Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦) said he hopes that lawmakers across party lines would approve the plans without delay so that the funds could be disbursed soon.
Regarding the NT$6,000 cash subsidy, Cheng said the government would create several channels for Taiwanese, including diplomats posted overseas, foreign permanent residents and foreign residents with Taiwanese spouses to receive the payments.
The government is working on an online system that would allow direct transfers to people’s bank accounts, he said, adding that the system would be tested next month and then opened for applications.
Cheng said the NT$50 billion allocated to Taipower would help cover some of its losses, adding that the government’s budget for this year has also allocated NT$150 billion to cover losses at the utility.
As of the end of last year, Taipower’s accumulated losses were NT$267.5 billion, the company said, adding that it was due to rising international energy costs and the government’s reluctance to increase electricity prices.
Taipower has estimated that it would lose another NT$278.5 billion this year.
Cheng said that the government’s cap on electricity and fuel prices would remain part of its efforts to stabilize the cost of living in the country.
Similarly, the government is committed to allocating resources to the labor insurance fund to keep it “financially sustainable,” he said.
In addition to the proposed NT$30 billion in tax surplus funds, the labor insurance fund would also receive NT$45 billion from the government’s budget for this year, he said.
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to