TAIPEI (TVBS News) — A recent poll by the National Policy Foundation (NPF, 國家政策基金會) revealed on Tuesday (Feb. 25) that 66.3% of respondents support the distribution of cash payments from Taiwan's surplus tax revenue, while 29% oppose it. Eric Chu (朱立倫), chairman of the Kuomintang (KMT, 國民黨), urged the current administration to follow global trends by returning excess tax revenue to citizens.
The survey indicated that Taiwan's Ministry of Finance (財政部) collected an excess of NT$528.3 billion in 2024. When asked if they supported distributing NT$10,000 cash payments to citizens, 66.3% favored the idea. Support peaked in the Kaohsiung-Pingtung and Taoyuan-Hsinchu-Miaoli regions, where approval ratings reached 72.3% and 72.2%, respectively. Age groups 30-39 and 40-49 showed the highest support, with 91% and 77.2% backing the initiative.
Wang Hung-wei (王鴻薇), the KMT caucus secretary-general, emphasized Taiwan's ability to issue cash payments, citing the United States and Singapore as examples. She noted that the Kuomintang's recent priority bill meeting unanimously decided to prioritize cash distribution in this legislative session. Wang added that her proposal, along with another by legislator Lai Shyh-bao (賴士葆), is currently under committee review.
Ko Chih-en (柯志恩), executive director of the NPF, explained that the poll was conducted by the foundation's Trend and Data Center (趨勢暨數據中心) from Feb. 20-22, gathering 1,068 valid responses.
