The Executive Yuan’s decision to cut local government subsidies by 25 percent is “extremely malicious behavior,” New Taipei City Deputy Mayor Liu Ho-jan (劉和然) said today during a meeting of the Finance Committee.
Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics Minister Chen Shu-tzu (陳淑姿) said that due to the Legislative Yuan’s large cuts in the central government budget, the Executive Yuan was at an impasse and had no choice but to cut local government subsidies.
The cuts announced last month sparked fierce criticism from the opposition, with the Taiwan People’s Party caucus previously proposing a motion urging the government to immediately disburse the general subsidies in full.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
The opposition parties utilized their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the motion, sending it to the Finance Committee for review.
The committee reviewed the proposal today, inviting Chen, Minister of Finance Chuang Tsui-yun (莊翠雲) and local government representatives to answer questions.
As the meeting began at 9am, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Wu Ping-jui (吳秉叡) and others questioned whether the meeting was illegal and unconstitutional, arguing with opposition legislators.
Wu proposed to adjourn the meeting, but the opposition parties, with their numerical advantage, rejected the motion and the meeting continued.
Liu said that the subsidies are extremely important for local governments’ budgets, and they are used by New Taipei City for social welfare, education and basic infrastructure.
Whether cutting these subsidies is legal is up to the legislative and executive branches to decide, but from a local government perspective it is “extremely malicious behavior,” he said.
Chen said that the Legislative Yuan cut the central government’s budget for this year by NT$207.6 billion (US$6.9 billion), leaving NT$63.6 billion for the Executive Yuan to determine what budgeted items to remove, which has been challenging.
The Executive Yuan repeatedly raised objections and requested the Legislative Yuan to reconsider, but the legislature has upheld its original resolution, Chen said.
The Executive Yuan is proceeding with a request for a constitutional judgement and would assess the situation based on the outcome, she said.
The DPP caucus said that the party has supported local governments and allowed them to prosper, adding that cutting local government subsidies is a result of the opposition parties slashing the central government budget.
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