Any tax surplus would first be used to repay debt, then would go toward special budgets for public services, Premier Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) said on Tuesday when asked whether this year’s surplus would again be dispersed as a universal cash payout.
Chen made the comments at a legislative hearing at which Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Wang Hung-wei (王鴻薇) asked about plans for the tax surplus.
Ministry of Finance data show that total tax revenues surpassed the estimated budget of NT$300 billion (US$9.44 billion) for the year, continuing an increasing trend seen over President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) eight years in office, she said.
Photo: Liao Chen-hui, Taipei Times
Wang therefore proposed a bill that would require a tax rebate directly returned to citizens whenever the surplus exceeds NT$300 billion.
The surplus from last year is NT$386 billion, the third-highest in history, according to ministry data.
However, the year before the surplus reached NT$500 billion, making it possible to issue a NT$6,000 rebate to citizens and permanent residents, Chen said.
Any surplus from this year would first go toward repaying debts as “repaying the principal is very important,” Chen said.
After that, the government would consider which special budgets need additional funding, such as the Labor Insurance Fund, Taiwan Power Co and National Health Insurance, he said.
Chen agreed that budgeting should be more precise, but the past few years have seen unprecedented disruptions to the global supply chain and a relatively strong domestic economy.
This resulted in an unusually large surplus for 2022, enabling the cash payout, he said, adding that putting money into public services is equivalent to giving it to the public.
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