Premier announces will not countersign revenue-allocation amendments

Taipei, Dec. 15 (CNA) Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) announced Monday that the Cabinet has decided not to countersign the amendments to the local revenue-sharing law passed by the Legislative Yuan last month.

Speaking with reporters, Cho said the decision not to countersign the amendments to the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures was made in accordance with the Republic of China (ROC) Constitution.

"The decision aims to safeguard our Constitution," Cho said.

The Constitution stipulates the President shall, in accordance with law, promulgate laws and issue mandates with the counter-signature of the head of the Executive Yuan or with the counter-signatures of both the head of the Executive Yuan and ministers or chairpersons of commissions concerned.

Although the decision is the first time the Cabinet has ever refused to countersign legislation, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government argued that doing so does not violate the the Constitution.

The announcement came after the 113-seat Legislative Yuan -- where the opposition Kuomintang (KMT), the Taiwan People's Party (TPP), and independent lawmakers aligned with the KMT hold a combined majority --rejected on Dec. 5 a Cabinet request to reconsider the approved amendments.

Under the amendments to the Act, local governments would receive a larger share of central government revenue each year.

With the request for the Legislative Yuan to reconsider the amendments, the Cabinet argued that the amendments will strain the central government's finances and force it to take on an additional NT$264.6 billion (US$8.43 billion) in debt next year, exceeding the annual borrowing cap of 15 percent on total expenditure.

However, the argument is controversial as the government's 2026 general budget is pending approval by the Legislature and whether the revised revenue allocation law will force the Cabinet to raise the debt as it has claimed remains hotly debated.

The DPP caucus on Friday pledged full support for any countermeasure adopted by the Cabinet against the amendments. With the Constitutional Court paralyzed, President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) had asked the premier to consider not countersigning the amendments, meaning the law would not take effect even if signed by the president.

The Constitutional Court, which currently has only eight sitting judges, has been unable to operate since January 2025, when a legal revision took effect requiring a quorum 10 grand justices to participate in deliberations and nine to rule on the constitutionality of cases brought before it.

Before Cho announced the Cabinet's decision, KMT lawmaker Wu Tsung-hsien (吳宗憲) urged the government to implement the law passed by the Legislative Yuan and called on the DPP to respect the decision of the democratically elected Legislature.

Wu said that failure to do so could result in Taiwan's democracy being buried by a dictator, referring to Lai.