Opposition cuts 2025 central government budget by NT$93.98 billion

Taipei, Jan. 18 (CNA) The Kuomintang (KMT) and Taiwan People's Party (TPP), two of the main opposition parties in Taiwan, joined forces on Friday to cut NT$93.98 billion (US$2.85 billion) in the 2025 central government budget during its second-reading review at the Legislative Yuan.

In response, the Cabinet urged the opposition parties to "rein in at the edge of the precipice," warning the massive cut will seriously affect the government's efforts in pushing forward its policies.

On the legislative floor, lawmakers from the KMT and TPP joined hands to vote for a cut of NT$93.98 billion in the government's general budget plan in which the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) had proposed NT$3.15 trillion in revenue and NT$3.13 trillion in expenditure, both hitting a new high, for 2025, which resulted in a surplus of NT$20.9 billion.

Previously, the KMT had proposed a cut of NT$111.1 billion in the budget for 2025, but the opposition camp eventually agreed upon a smaller cut of NT$93.98 billion.

On Monday, lawmakers will look into the budget concerning individual cases including a cut of NT$100 billion in subsidies for state-owned Taiwan Power Co. (Taipower), which has incurred massive losses and needs the subsidies to improve its financial structure.

The Legislative Yuan has scheduled a full house vote for Tuesday to pass the 2025 government budget.

The cut in the second reading on Friday accounted for about 3 percent of the DGBAS-proposed spending.

KMT caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅崐萁) said even if the budget were cut by NT$111.1 billion as initially proposed by his party, the reduction would make up about 3.47 percent of the DGBAS-proposed plan, a reduction similar to those in the previous years.

The budget reduction including a 10 percent cut in water and electricity bills and a 60 percent cut in special spending which is largely used by agency chiefs as rewards or relief for employees, while special spending in select agencies of the Cabinet, including the Mainland Affairs Council, the Ministry of Digital Affairs, National Communications Commission, the Ministry of Labor as well as the Control Yuan were all deleted.

In addition, spending in policy promotions to buy advertisements from all government agencies was cut by 60 percent by the opposition parties on Friday, while opposition lawmakers also required a single media outlet not to win bids which will make up more than 5 percent of the promotion spending of any government agency.

Lawmakers also requested the top three media outlets winning the bids in policy promotion spending not to top 10 percent of the particular budget of a government agency.

KMT lawmaker Hsu Yu-chen (許宇甄) said the DGBAS-proposed expenditure was almost NT$300 billion higher than last year, and voiced suspicion of inflating spending, so it was appropriate for the oppositions to cut the budget.

However, legislative caucus whip of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) said the cut completely lacked transparency as the move by the opposition parties failed to go through thorough discussions and negotiations.

Ker said the government budget is the important resource for the country's development and such a reckless cut showed the hateful conduct by opposition lawmakers and they should be recalled.

In a statement, Cabinet spokesperson Michelle Lee (李慧芝) said the irrational budget cut by the opposition camp is expected to weaken the government's operations which need continuation.

Lee, who described the cut as a revenge-like move by the opposition parties, said the budget cut will prevent Taiwan from collaborating with other countries in critical fields such as technology development, human rights protection, and exchanges in culture, healthcare, sports and diplomacy, economic cooperation and gender equality.

She said if the opposition camp continues to push for such emotional budget cut, the Executive Yuan will seek redress under the law.

According to the Additional Articles of the Constitution of the Republic of China, if the Executive Yuan deem a statutory, budgetary, or treaty bill passed by the Legislative Yuan difficult to execute, the Executive Yuan may, with the approval of the president within 10 days of the bill's submission to the Executive Yuan, request the Legislative Yuan to reconsider the bill.