Legislature passes special act with one-off stimulus payments

Taipei, July 11 (CNA) The Legislature on Friday passed a special act allowing the government to use surplus tax revenue to invest in Taiwan's security infrastructure and provide relief to industries likely to be affected by U.S. tariffs.

However, lawmakers from the opposition Kuomintang (KMT), the biggest party in the Legislature, were able to successfully push for the removal of NT$100 billion (US$3.42 billion) in aid for the financially troubled Taiwan Power Co. (Taipower) from the package.

They also voted to include NT$230 billion in cash handouts to Taiwanese citizens, bringing the total cost of the package from the Cabinet's originally proposed NT$410 billion to NT$530 billion.

It remains unclear if foreign residents in Taiwan will be eligible to receive the handouts.

The Cabinet told CNA on Thursday that the issue would not be touched upon until the package was adopted by the Legislature.

The KMT's motions sparked heated debate on the legislative floor before they were put to a vote on Friday afternoon.

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmaker Chung Chia-pin (鍾佳濱) warned that cutting the proposed Taipower aid could lead to electricity price hikes and broader increases in commodity prices.

These additional burdens on the public would not be offset by one-off handouts, he said.

The Cabinet has also claimed that it would have to borrow to fund the individual stimulus payments.

KMT lawmaker Lai Shyh-bao (賴士葆), however, rejected the Cabinet's claim, arguing that the surplus tax revenue had reached more than NT$1 trillion and that the government should "return the money to people" and spur domestic consumption.

Lin Szu-ming (林思銘), also a KMT lawmaker, said the previous DPP government under President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) had given out tax rebates before and that he did not understand why the current government resisted it so much.

He added that neighboring countries, including South Korea and Singapore, had rolled out similar measures in light of economic uncertainty brought about by U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff threats.

According to data from the Ministry of Finance, the accumulated surplus tax revenue between fiscal years 2021 and 2023 reached NT$1.3 trillion.

But the Ministry of Finance said in February that not all of the NT$1.3 trillion could be flexibly used by the central government, as a large portion would need to be allocated to debt repayment and reserved for future use.

Now that the special act has cleared the Legislature, the Cabinet will have to submit an appropriation bill to authorize the actual disbursement of funds.

Apart from the NT$230 billion earmarked for cash rebates, the bill passed Friday also includes NT$150 billion for military and Coast Guard system upgrades and NT$93 billion in relief measures to help Taiwanese exporters absorb potential tariff shocks.