KMT urges Lai to double planned cash handout to NT$20,000

The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday urged President William Lai (賴清德) to double his planned NT$10,000 (US$314) cash handout next year to NT$20,000, echoing a proposal made earlier by Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安).In a news release, KMT Culture and Communications Committee Director Charles Chen (陳以信) said Lai’s announcement on Monday about the cash handout showed that the government has the fiscal capacity to share the benefits of economic growth with the public.The KMT views Lai’s announcement as a policy reversal, contrasting with the administration’s earlier cool response to the party’s NT$10,000 cash proposal in May, which the KMT argued was made possible by higher-than-expected tax revenues. New Taiwan dollar notes are pictured in an undated photograph. Photo: CNA Chen yes