The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) today defended amendments to the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures (財政收支劃分法) that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said would necessitate an overhaul of next year's general budget.
The amendments, if promulgated into law, would allocate 60 percent of available funding to local governments rather than the current 25 percent, resulting in central government spending power being reduced annually by NT$375.3 billion (US$11.49 billion), according to the Directorate-General of Budgeting, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS).
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
At a news conference, KMT caucus Secretary-General Lin Szu-ming (林思銘) rejected claims made earlier in the day by government ministers that the revisions, which cleared the legislature on Friday last week following brawls between lawmakers, would harm central government spending on defense, social welfare and other major programs.
Lin suggested that the reallocation of funding would instead reward fiscally responsible local governments and encourage them to promote economic development and create jobs, rather than relying on central government handouts.
"When President William Lai (賴清德) was mayor of Tainan, he called for amendments to the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures," Lin said, suggesting that the DPP also sought greater funds for local governments when it previously was in opposition.
"Basically, what [for them] was right yesterday is wrong today," Lin said. "They changed places and changed their minds."
The KMT news conference — titled "The funding allocation overhaul will benefit everyone: Will the DPP resist endlessly?" — took place on the same day the DPP caucus held its own news conference titled "The sinister funding allocation amendments will harm everyone."
At a separate news conference today, DGBAS Minister Chen Shu-tzu (陳淑姿) said that the changes would cause "procedural chaos" in relation to next year's general budget, which has already been hotly contested by lawmakers.
The minister also said that the central government would lose NT$375.3 billion, or 9 percent of its total revenue, if the law goes into effect.
This would necessitate massive reductions in spending, Chen said, including cuts for defense equivalent to 28 percent.
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