The legislature’s Finance Committee yesterday approved proposed amendments that would mandate the distribution of cash payments to the public if tax revenues exceed budget projections by a set threshold.
Lawmakers from the KMT and the smaller Taiwan People’s Party submitted twin proposals to amend the Budget Act (預算法) mandating cash handouts to the public if actual tax revenues exceed budget estimates by 120 percent or NT$300 billion (US$9.08 billion).
Tax collection last fiscal year reached a record NT$3.7619 trillion, surpassing the budget forecast by NT$528.3 billion.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
The KMT has previously proposed distributing NT$10,000 in cash to each person, which would cost NT$230 billion in total.
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)-led government favors using the revenue surplus to pay down the national debt, reserving it for future use, or using it to boost the national defense budget.
KMT Legislator Lo Ming-tsai (羅明才) said the public should share in the benefits of the nation’s economic success, adding that other countries and territories, including Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Macau and the US, have implemented similar programs.
DPP Legislator Wu Ping-jui (吳秉叡) questioned the constitutionality of the opposition’s proposal, saying the legislature only has the power to review — not propose — budget bills.
The KMT’s proposal is an attempt to use a “legislative amendment” to conceal the fact that its proposal is a “budget” proposal, he said.
Political Deputy Minister of Finance Juan Ching-hua (阮清華) told the committee that higher-than-expected tax revenues did not necessarily mean that the country’s finances are in order.
From 2012 to 2023, Taiwan posted budget surpluses only three times, while running a budget deficit “in almost every other year,” he said.
Based on the KMT proposals, even when tax revenues exceed the budget forecast but still fall short of expenditure, the government could be legally bound to borrow money to distribute as cash handouts, Juan said.
Following the debate, the committee advanced the proposals for a reading in the full legislature on Friday.
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