KMT defends funding allocation law revisions following DPP outcry

Taipei, Dec. 23 (CNA) Taiwan's biggest opposition party, the Kuomintang (KMT), has defended amendments to the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures that the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said would necessitate an overhaul of the 2025 general budget.

The amendments, if promulgated into law, would allocate 60 percent of available funding to local governments rather than the current 25 percent, resulting in central government spending power being reduced annually by NT$375.3 billion (US$11.49 billion), according to the Directorate-General of Budgeting, Accounting, and Statistics (DGBAS).

At a news conference on Monday, KMT legislative caucus Secretary-General Lin Szu-ming (林思銘) rejected claims made earlier in the day by government ministers that the law revisions, which cleared the Legislature on Friday following brawls between lawmakers, would harm central government spending on defense, social welfare, and other major programs.

Lin suggested that the reallocation of funding would instead reward fiscally responsible local governments and encourage them to promote economic development and create jobs, rather than relying on central government handouts.

"When President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) was mayor of Tainan City, he called for amendments to the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures," Lin said, suggesting that the DPP also sought greater funds for local governments when it previously was in opposition.

"Basically, what [for them] was right yesterday is wrong today," Lin said. "They changed places and changed their minds."

The KMT news conference -- titled "The funding allocation overhaul will benefit everyone: Will the DPP resist endlessly?" -- took place on the same day the DPP legislative caucus held its own news conference titled "The sinister funding allocation amendments will harm everyone."

At a separate news conference on Monday, DGBAS Minister Chen Shu-tzu (陳淑姿) said that the changes would cause "procedural chaos" in relation to the 2025 general budget, which has already been hotly contested by lawmakers in previous months.

The minister also said that the central government would lose NT$375.3 billion (US$11.49 billion), or 9 percent of its total revenue, if the law goes into effect.

This would necessitate massive reductions in spending, Chen said, including cuts for defense equivalent to 28 percent.

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