TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan’s National Audit Office warned in its 2025 General Final Accounts of the Central Government, released July 24, that the government’s previous cash handouts lacked adequate planning before implementation and effectiveness assessments afterward.
Citing a survey published by Academia Sinica in July, the office suggested the previous two cash handouts had limited effects on boosting consumption, per ETtoday. It added that research from the US and Japan found that roughly one-third of cash handouts are spent on consumption, instead of saving or repaying debt.
The office noted that the government estimated in September 2025 that its NT$10,000 (US$314) cash handout would increase GDP by 0.145%. However, the estimate was based on the effects of previous stimulus vouchers rather than research on cash handouts.
To address the issue, the office requested in 2024 that the Ministry of Finance include effectiveness assessments in its plans for cash handouts. The office said the ministry responded that follow-up studies would be conducted if sufficient time and resources were available.
The office recommended adjusting Taiwan’s industrial structure to address economic challenges. It stressed that Taiwan still needs to raise NT$869.6 billion for fiscal 2025 and ongoing special budgets, per UDN.
President Lai Ching-te’s (賴清德) announcement of a planned NT$10,000 cash handout in 2027 has drawn criticism from those who had opposed the opposition’s NT$10,000 cash handout proposal in 2025 alongside the DPP. Hsuan Chuang University Professor Shih Chao-hwei (釋昭慧) urged the government to allocate the funds to Taiwan’s struggling industries or more vulnerable members of society, per Liberty Times.
NPP Chair Wang Wan-yu (王婉諭) warned that cash handouts do not leave lasting benefits, such as infrastructure, for Taiwan, per Z.Media. She said the NT$230 billion spent on the 2025 cash handout could have funded enough social housing for 84,000 households, offsetting some of the 100,000-unit reduction from Lai’s campaign pledge.
In related news, DPP Legislative Caucus Secretary-General Chuang Jui-hsiung (莊瑞雄) said that because the cash handout is tied to the budget, the legislature could decide whether the public could receive the money before the Lunar New Year, per Mirror Media. Chuang stressed the government had allocated funding for key projects before proposing the cash handout.
TPP Legislative Caucus Convener Chen Ching-lung (陳清龍) said Lai’s proposal would not affect how his party reviews the government’s 2027 budget, per UDN. TPP Chair Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) previously argued that returning surplus tax revenue to the public through cash handouts was a rational policy.
KMT Legislator Lai Shyh-pao (賴士葆), meanwhile, called on the government not to give the opposition a reason to reject the government’s budget, per SETN. He asserted that the ruling DPP’s decision not to countersign the Special Act on Taiwan Future Accounts and other legislation passed by the legislature amounted to the executive branch overriding the legislature.
Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) became the first premier in Taiwan’s history not to countersign a law passed by the legislature, citing the paralysis of the Constitutional Court at the time. Under Taiwan’s Constitution, if the legislature passes the same legislation after the Cabinet requests reconsideration, the premier is required to enforce the legislation or resign.
In Taiwan’s constitutional system, countersigning is intended to give the premier a mechanism to restrain the president, per Taiwan FactCheck Center. However, because the president has the power to appoint the premier at will, the mechanism has rarely, if ever, been used.
