Taipei: The Executive Yuan announced on Thursday its intention to seek legislative approval for an additional NT$87.84 billion (US$2.92 billion) in government spending for the 2025 fiscal year. At a Cabinet news briefing, Hsu Yung-yi, a senior official at the Executive Yuan’s Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS), explained that this request is in response to the Legislature’s previous reduction of the central government’s general budget for 2025.
According to Focus Taiwan, the 6.6 percent budget reduction, amounting to an estimated NT$207.6 billion, was mandated by the opposition-controlled Legislature in January. This cut has reportedly affected the operations of various government agencies. However, rather than restoring the cuts to these agencies, the majority of the proposed additional funding-NT$63.6 billion-would be directed to local governments. This allocation aims to address the financial gap created after the Cabinet canceled NT$63.6 billion in subsidies for local governments. This cancellation followed the Legislature’s revision of the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures, which increased the share of tax revenues allocated to local authorities.
Under this revised act, the central government is required to redistribute a portion of its annual tax revenues to local governments and may grant them additional subsidies for development projects. In addition to this allocation, the Cabinet is also requesting NT$5.95 billion for increased nonsalary allowances for military personnel, a policy introduced in April, and NT$2.37 billion to compensate Indigenous people for a logging ban.
Moreover, approximately NT$1.54 billion is being sought to finance 31 recall votes targeting opposition Kuomintang lawmakers and a national referendum on nuclear power proposed by the Taiwan People’s Party. The outcome of the Cabinet’s request remains uncertain, as it depends on the approval of the same Legislature that previously passed the budget cuts.
If the Legislature approves the request, the central government’s budget for 2025 would increase from NT$2.92 trillion to NT$3.01 trillion, according to DGBAS data. Hsu emphasized that this additional spending would not lead to an increase in government debt, as tax revenues for 2025 are projected to reach NT$3.16 trillion.