The Executive Yuan today approved its version of draft amendments to the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures (財政收支劃分法), which would bring central funding for local governments to a record high of NT$1.2002 trillion (US$38.433 billion) next year.
The Cabinet’s draft aims to achieve five major goals: more balanced quality of life for citizens, fairer urban-rural distribution, stronger central-local government partnerships, more reasonable distribution across financial and administrative costs and strengthened local autonomy, the Ministry of Finance (MOF) said.
Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei Times
The draft would next be sent to the Legislative Yuan for review.
Central government subsidies for local governments include shared tax revenues, general grants and project-based grants, with the total amount not less than this year’s figure, according to the Cabinet’s proposed amendment bill.
Shared tax revenue next year would total NT$821.3 billion, an increase of NT$353.7 billion on this fiscal year, according to the draft.
The increase would negate the need for additional “augmentation funds” within general grants, though NT$108 billion in funding would be returned to local governments for administrative functions, it said.
The MOF said that shared tax revenues would first be used to cover local governments’ fiscal shortfalls to ensure that essential expenditures for regular operations are met and that all local governments start from an equal fiscal baseline.
Of the NT$250.1 billion to be used for general grants, NT$142.1 billion would be reserved for education, social welfare and basic infrastructure, while the remaining NT$108 billion would be included in basic fiscal needs first covered by shared tax revenues, it added.
The draft amendments include a formula to ensure fair distribution across the 22 counties and cities, incorporating factors such as population structure, land management and pollution-control costs, to balance urban-rural, agricultural-industrial needs and regional development, it said.
As for project-based grants to improve residents’ quality of life and support major public infrastructure such as rail projects, they would remain at NT$236.8 billion, after the expiration of phase five of the “Forward-looking Infrastructure Development Plan” this year, it added.
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