KMT urges Lai to double planned cash handout to NT$20,000

Taipei, Aug. 18 (CNA) The main opposition Kuomintang (KMT) on Tuesday urged President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) to double his planned NT$10,000 (US$314) cash handout next year to NT$20,000, echoing a proposal made earlier by Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安).

In a news release, KMT Culture and Communications Committee Director Chen I-hsin (陳以信) said Lai's announcement on Monday about the cash handout showed that the government has the fiscal capacity to share the benefits of economic growth with the public.

The KMT views Lai's announcement as a policy reversal, contrasting with the administration's earlier cool response to the party's NT$10,000 cash proposal in May, which the KMT argued was made possible by higher-than-expected tax revenues.

On Tuesday, Chen said the government is well-positioned to utilize this year's budget surplus to distribute NT$10,000 to citizens as the KMT proposed, given that GDP growth is projected to hit 11 percent, the highest level in 39 years.

Combined with Lai's Monday pledge to use next year's budget to share the "AI dividend," the government could increase the total payout to NT$20,000 per person as early as January, he added.

Earlier Tuesday, Chiang criticized the NT$10,000 handout, saying it would be gone after "just buying groceries" and that people would be better off with NT$20,000.

The ruling Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) spokesperson Lin Chu-yin (林楚茵) said Tuesday that if Chiang felt NT$10,000 was insufficient, the Taipei City government could consider increasing the handout itself to provide greater benefits to local residents, rather than shifting the responsibility entirely to the central government.