《TAIPEI TIMES 焦點》 Greek-like default looms: legislator

RUNAWAY DEBT: Taiwan Solidarity Union Legislator Yeh Chin-ling listed threats to the national coffers while urging the government to avoid imminent financial ruin

By Wang Wen-hsuan and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with staff writer

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The government is in the red and national liability has ballooned by NT$1.5 trillion （US$50 billion） compared with last year, placing Taiwan on the stage as a potential player in what may be Asia’s Greek tragedy, Taiwan Solidarity Union Legislator Yeh Chin-ling （葉津玲） said yesterday.

The government’s income next year is estimated to be NT$1.79 billion, but its expenditure stands at NT$1.95 billion, placing the nation NT$160 billion in debt, Yeh said, adding that the government was falling NT$200 billion more into debt every year.

The government has overestimated its tax income, and while the growth rate of the debt has slowed, the account liability has swelled tremendously, Yeh said.

Yeh also said that liability and debt growth were continuing to surge, adding that by June, liability accrued by all levels of government reached NT$17 trillion — surpassing the nation’s annual income.

The factor contributing the most to liability growth in the past year was labor insurance, which amounted to NT$1.3 trillion, NT$948 billion more than its estimated annual growth of NT$394 billion, Yeh said.

Unless the Bureau of Labor Insurance made a gross error in its calculations, the discrepancy is a conscious action designed to scare workers with the idea that “the Labor Insurance Fund would go broke,” Yeh said.

“If President Ma Ying-jeou’s （馬英九） administration does not tackle the annuity funding issue, the nation stands to become the next Greece and default on its debts,” she added.

Yeh said that regardless of the figures’ accuracy, the nation has a tremendous amount of liability and is seeing shortages among all four government funds — the Labor Insurance Fund, the labor pension, the civil service pension and the planned annuity fund.

The funds are the main source of pensions for retirees.

新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES