By Chris Wang / Staff reporter
A simple glance at the Executive Yuan’s budget plan for next year was enough to show that the plan was “messy, careless and irresponsible,” the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus said yesterday.
The caucus has only received about one-quarter of the budget statement, which was required by law to be submitted before today, but it has seen many incredible items in the documents, DPP Legislator Tuan Yi-kang (段宜康) told a press conference.
The government agencies had listed “ridiculously meaningless” items in their budget statements, such as NT$30 million (US$1 million) for the promotion of China policy listed by the Mainland Affairs Council and NT$290,000 for a research plan into China affairs listed by the Taiwan Provincial Government, which was streamlined in 1998 and has basically not operated since then, Tuan said.
“However, none of those agencies was as crazy as the Overseas Compatriot Affairs Commission, which had allocated NT$760,000 for a book review event for its employees,” Tuan said.
Tuan described the budget plan as “sloppy allocation of large-scale projects and squandering public funds for little things” and said “somebody would have to be held accountable for this mess.”
The lawmaker said the DPP would “definitely strictly monitor the budget” during the upcoming legislative session, which begins on Sept. 18.
The Cabinet approved a total government budget of NT$1.9446 trillion for next year on Aug. 23.
The budget does not look good for an administration that promised economic growth, job creation and improved social welfare for the people, DPP Legislator Chen Ting-fei (陳亭妃) said.
The proposed expenditure on public infrastructure of about NT$190 billion was the lowest since 2004, while outstanding central government debt has reached an all-time high of NT$5.269 trillion, she said.