Premier faces lawsuit, potential censure motion over revenue allocation law

Taipei, Dec. 9 (CNA) Taiwan's opposition parties on Tuesday ramped up pressure on Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) over his remark suggesting the Executive Yuan might ignore legislation on central-local government revenue allocation.

A group of New Party members filed a lawsuit against Cho, accusing him of "negligence of duty" and "illegally withholding public funds" in defiance of the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures.

"Law is the fundamental norm of a democracy. If the Executive Yuan refuses to enforce it simply because 'I am not happy' with it, Taiwan risks backsliding into authoritarianism and the rule of man," New Party Deputy Secretary-General You Chih-pin (游智彬) told reporters at the Taipei District Prosecutors' Office

You was referring to the amendments to the law passed by the opposition-controlled Legislature on Nov. 14, which the Executive Yuan said would further strain the central government's finances and push borrowing over the limit, following revisions to the same law also initiated by the opposition last December.

According to the Ministry of Finance, amendments passed in December 2024, which took effect in March, mandate shifting NT$375.3 billion (US$12.05 billion) in tax revenue from the central government to local governments.

More recent amendments to the law, passed in November but not yet in effect, establish a minimum threshold for the central government's annual budget allocation of project-based subsidies to local governments, which would increase the total amount by approximately NT$264.6 billion.

Late last month, the Executive Yuan asked the Legislature to revisit the November amendments, calling them "unworkable," but the request was voted down by the opposition 59-50 last Friday, with votes to uphold the original version exceeding a majority of 57, meaning the Premier must accept the outcome.

In response to the vote, however, Cho said the Executive Yuan was "under no pressure to implement any resolution that bypasses normal legislative procedures or violates parliamentary ethics," though he did not explicitly say that the Executive Yuan would refuse to follow the legislation.

On Tuesday, several lawmakers from the main opposition Kuomintang (KMT) announced plans to file a censure motion -- which is largely symbolic rather than legally binding -- against Cho if he refuses to draft budgets in line with the revised law.

"No one is allowed to disregard the law for any reason or excuse, because doing so would push the constitutional order to the brink of collapse," Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥), deputy caucus whip of the party, said at a press conference.

Lin claimed that the real reason behind Cho's rejection of the legislation was his preference for keeping government revenues under central government control, rather than distributing them to local governments.

Responding the opposition's moves, Cabinet spokesperson Michelle Lee (李慧芝) said the November amendments would be impossible to implement.

Meeting the required increases in subsidies for local governments would force the central government to take out more loans, pushing the total budget's debt ratio to 17.1 percent, exceeding the 15 percent legal limit, she said.

Lee added that it was also not feasible, this late in the process, to apply the November amendments to the draft 2026 government budget.

"The budget was drafted in August, and the proposals are now under review by the Legislature and local councils. Rewriting them would stall government operations," she said.