Lee Sichuan Criticizes Opposition to Fiscal Reform; Su Ts’ao-hui: We Oppose Unconsulted Amendments

Central News Agency Report

(Central News Agency reporters Tsao Ya-yen and Wang Hung-kuo, New Taipei, June 16) The debate over fiscal allocation law reform has reignited between candidates for New Taipei City mayor. Su Ts’ao-hui of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) stated today that her opposition is not to increasing local government revenue, but specifically to the version proposed by KMT caucus leader Fu Kun-chi, which was introduced without prior discussion.

The campaign team of Kuomintang (KMT) New Taipei mayoral candidate Lee Sichuan criticized Su yesterday, accusing her of claiming to 'understand New Taipei best' while opposing a fiscal reform bill that would increase the city’s share of nationally distributed tax revenue.

Su Ts’ao-hui, DPP candidate for New Taipei mayor, responded today during an inauguration ceremony for the Investigation Bureau’s Zhonghe Campus. She emphasized that her opposition has always been directed at Fu Kun-chi’s version of the fiscal allocation law, which would reduce per capita funding for New Taipei City to just half that of Taipei City. Even New Taipei’s Finance Bureau chief and her political opponent have raised concerns about this proposal.

“This version was introduced without discussion, and no representatives from local governments were given the chance to understand its implications,” Su said. “We have always opposed reckless amendments to the fiscal allocation law—not the increase of local financial resources.”

Regarding criticism over her past opposition to compensation for indigenous forest conservation, Su responded that, similar to the fiscal law issue, her objection was to proposals introduced without consultation and deemed unacceptable. She noted that even KMT committee members acknowledged at the time, “Committee member Su Ts’ao-hui also supports increasing conservation compensation.”

She affirmed her support for the general direction but opposed directly increasing budgets in the legislature without proper budgetary deliberation, calling such actions a violation of constitutional principles. She stressed that both the forest compensation and fiscal law reforms should undergo thorough discussion.

Lee Sichuan’s campaign office spokesperson, Kuo Yin-lan, fired back, accusing Su of “claiming support verbally but voting against it.” She pointed out that Su’s father, Su Tseng-chang, as DPP chair in 2012, strongly advocated for fiscal law reform. “After 10 years as a legislator, Su Ts’ao-hui has achieved zero progress. Is it Su Tseng-chang who lied, or is it Su Ts’ao-hui?”

Kuo added that opposition lawmakers are pushing for fiscal reform in the legislature to secure an additional NT$37.4 billion annually for New Taipei City. Yet Su, as a legislator representing the city, followed party directives to block the bill, exposing a double standard where “party loyalty overrides public interest.”

Kuo also noted that while Su claims not to oppose increasing indigenous conservation compensation, she still voted against a KMT and indigenous legislator-proposed amendment to raise compensation from NT$30,000 to NT$60,000 per hectare. (Edited by Chang Ming-kun) 1150616

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