KMT, Cabinet trade barbs over cuts to central government budget

Taipei, Aug. 15 (CNA) Main opposition Kuomintang (KMT) caucus leader Fu Kun-chi (傅崐萁)has said a 1.689 percent reduction to the 2026 central government budget should be seen as a gesture of "great goodwill," despite the Cabinet describing the opposition-controlled Legislature's cuts as "irrational."

Lawmakers from the KMT and the smaller opposition Taiwan People's Party, who together hold a majority in the Legislature, passed the cuts on Friday amid strenuous objections from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)-led central government and DPP lawmakers.

The cuts included NT$10 million (US$312,289) from President Lai Ching-te's (賴清德) confidential state affairs fund, with an additional NT$20 million from the fund frozen until Lai promulgates several bills passed by the Legislature.

The Legislature also eliminated funding for the Cabinet's Department of Human Rights and Transitional Justice, halved the operating budget of the Ill-gotten Party Assets Settlement Committee, and cut NT$684 million from the NT$1.379 billion in policy promotion funding for central government agencies, including NT$69.32 million requested by the Cabinet and NT$47.38 million by the Ministry of Culture.

In a news release Friday, Fu said that the opposition had shown its "greatest goodwill" by passing the 2026 central government budget with NT$48 billion in cuts, or just 1.689 percent of the original proposed expenditures.

More than 1,700 proposed cuts had been reduced through negotiations, resulting in 98.4 percent of the Cabinet's proposed budget passing and allowing the government to operate normally, Fu said.

The KMT caucus leader also criticized the government for failing to implement laws passed by the Legislature to allocate more tax revenues to local governments, raise pensions for police, firefighters and civil servants, and increase military salaries.

However, Cabinet spokesperson Michelle Lee (李慧芝) said in a statement late Friday that such "irrational" cuts could seriously impact government operations, as well as hamper Taiwan's progress on human rights.

Reduced funds for policy promotion risked allowing disinformation to spread, Lee said, adding that a NT$52.54 million cut to the Department of Information Services' operating budget could fall on the shoulders of contract workers, whose salaries were now uncertain.

Moreover, Lee said, cuts to the confidential state affairs fund two-thirds into 2026 had effectively rendered it unusable, depriving the president of necessary flexible resources for public engagements, military inspections and other state affairs operations.