A new budget law has prevented the central government from disbursing NT$34.5 billion (US$1.14 billion) to local governments, the Executive Yuan said yesterday, as heads of opposition-governed jurisdictions scheduled a meeting over funding for today.
The government has no choice but to withhold funding due to “unsolvable” problems and mistakes in the amended Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures (財政收支劃分法), Cabinet spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) said.
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party approved amendments to the legislation in March.
Photo: Taipei Times
The formula for calculating shares of the budget for special municipalities, as well as county and city governments, would leave the central government legally unable to distribute the total, Lee said.
The amendments would channel funding previously earmarked for central government programs to its local counterparts, without also transferring the responsibility for overseeing the projects, she said.
The changes made the private-sector profit, population and size of the 22 administrative regions factors to increase its budget, which most certainly would widen the urban-rural divide, Lee said.
The math issue lies in the inclusion by lawmakers of Taiwan’s outlying counties in a part of the law governing allocations in Taiwan proper, National Taipei University of Business professor of public finance and tax administration Huang Yao-huei (黃耀輝) told the Chinese-language Storm Media Group.
That means the denominator for calculating allocations increased to 22 from 19, resulting in a drop in revenues for each jurisdiction and hanging tens of billions of New Taiwan dollars “in the air,” Huang said.
The 16 KMT and TPP mayors and commissioners said that they would convene a news conference in Taipei today to comment on the drop in revenues for regions including Lienchiang and Yunlin counties.
Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) said that the Executive Yuan informed local governments that subsidies planned in the previous year had been canceled and that they should expect a drop in subsidies.
The regulations governing local subsidies were changed from giving local governments funds that had been calculated by a formula to a discretionary decision by officials, Lu said, adding that the practice led to unfairness.
Kaohsiung, which has a smaller population than Taichung, received NT$130 billion in subsidies compared with the NT$20 billion earmarked for Taichung, she said.
The DPP government is used to picking political fights with the legislature, and has turned its attention to local administrations, she said, adding that the central government should change its ways following its defeats in the recall elections.
Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) and New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) are expected to attend today’s news conference, sources said.
NATIONAL SECURITY: Authorities are working to confirm the identities of the military personnel involved and investigating possible illegal conduct and regulatory violations Authorities are probing possible national security implications after Kinmen police and immigration officers on Sunday found a Chinese woman allegedly posing as a tourist while engaging in prostitution involving more than 10 military personnel. The woman, surnamed Chen (陳), has since been deported, authorities said, adding that investigators are still working to confirm the identities of those implicated, as the records only listed code names and aliases. The case stemmed from a report received by the Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday last week from the Jinhu Precinct of the Kinmen County Police Bureau. On Sunday, police, along with the National Immigration
STAY COOL: The HPA recommended that people stay hydrated, use air-conditioning or fans while indoors, wear loose-fitting clothes and walk in the shade while outdoors Employers must implement measures such as installing cooling equipment, and providing drinking water and rest breaks for outdoor workers starting from Monday next week, the Taipei Department of Labor said on Sunday. Employers who fail to comply could face fines of NT$30,000 to NT$300,000 under the Occupational Safety and Health Act (職業安全衛生法), the department said. Businesses in Taipei employing fewer than 100 workers, as well as registered self-employed workers with labor insurance coverage, could receive on-site assessments and guidance from occupational safety consultants to help them apply for central government subsidies to implement or improve heat-protection measures, it said. Under the Ministry of
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) yesterday briefed her party’s Central Standing Committee regarding her scheduled visit to the US between Monday next week and June 16, saying that her purpose would be to persuade the US that the Republic of China (ROC) Constitution was a “one China” constitution that would foster stable and peaceful cross-strait relations. The ROC Constitution is the most important defense for all Taiwanese citizens, as it upholds our democracy and has contributed to our robust economy, which aligns with international and US interests, she said. “We would not be troublemakers and drag the US under,”
RSS