The central government's recent plans to change allocations of local government subsidies to an “application-based” system has drawn criticism from the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), which at a Cabinet meeting today accused the Executive Yuan of “forcing local governments to beg for subsidies” under the new system and said that it intends to propose legislation to counter the new policy.
In response, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) spokesperson Han Ying (韓瑩) said that the KMT is happy to take money but not take action, adding, “if you can’t do it, hand the job over to someone who can.”
KMT caucus secretary-general Wang Hung-wei (王鴻薇), deputy caucus whip Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強) and legislator Lai Shih-pao (賴士葆) held a media conference today to accuse the Executive Yuan of trying to control local subsidies, adding that how much is allocated would now depend solely on President William Lai (賴清德) and the cabinet.
Photo: Weng Yu-huang, Taipei Times
Following new amendments to the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures (財政收支劃分法) each city and county has actually received increased funds with more allocated to local governments, Han said.
The amendments require the central government to adjust certain subsidies, she said. However the Taipei City Government’s allocation next year would still increase by 64 percent, up NT$44.4 billion (US$1.45 billion), while New Taipei City’s allocation would rise by 76 percent or NT$41 billion.
Despite the significant budget increases, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) and Hou continue to complain to the central government about lacking subsidies for school electricity fees, instead of allocating the extra budget to cover the expenses, Han said.
Local subsidies are supposed to cover social welfare expenditures, she said.
Not a single dollar has been cut this year, contrary to KMT claims that programs such as elderly care and childcare would be affected by the changes, she added.
The DPP has always prioritized the welfare of the entire population and would not sacrifice people’s interests, she said.
Subsidies have long been allocated to each city and county according to law, though local governments hope the new system would not impact the legally-required budget for projects used to benefit disadvantaged groups or related to education, police and firefighters, New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) said today.
Whichever method is used to distribute local subsidies, Hou said he hopes the government would continue to meet people’s needs and ensure their welfare.
Hou today inspected the progress of a public art feature and station facilities at Ceramics Old Street Station (陶瓷老街) in New Taipei’s Yingge District (鶯歌) that would be part of the Sanying MRT Line.
The new MRT line, set to open in March, would connect the city’s Tucheng (土城), Yingge and Sansia (三峽) districts.
Meanwhile, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said today at the Cabinet meeting that subsidies must be adjusted to avoid impacting national defense, foreign affairs and economic policies.
Those adjustments would require local governments to take responsibility for expenditures including school electricity fees and earthquake-proofing public buildings, while the central government would still cover up to 50 percent of expenditure for waste-water and road projects, he said.
Financing for major policy projects would still be the responsibility of the central government, he added.
Moreover, Taipei Mayor Chiang recently criticized the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) for redefining local subsidies to cut allocations for individual cities.
Chiang “could not accept” the cabinet’s new allocation system as it could easily lead to unfair distribution, he said at today’s cabinet meeting.
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