《TAIPEI TIMES》 President touts programs for social welfare

STUMPING FOR VOTES: Speaking in New Taipei City, Changhua County and Taichung, Tsai focused on farmers, the elderly and couples planning babies

By Jason Pan / Staff reporter

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On the campaign trail yesterday, President Tsai Ing-wen （蔡英文） touted her administration’s efforts to improve social welfare programs, including benefits for retired farmers and increased funding for home care services for elderly people.

Tsai, who is seeking re-election, told a rally in Changhua County that her Democratic Progressive Party government has spent a lot of time building a solid foundation for Taiwan, and asked supporters to give her another term to finish the work.

She vowed to boost social welfare programs to the level of more advanced nations.

“My government has worked to take better care of farmers and has added subsidies to buy new farm machinery,” she said. “In the next few years, it will institute a retirement pension system for farmers so that they can have security and peace of mind in their old age.”

“The current system for farmers is insufficient,” she said. “They should have retirement benefits and pensions with yearly payouts.”

“They should have a retirement pension package similar to what civil servants, military personnel and public-school teachers have,” Tsai said.

Earlier in the day in New Taipei City, Tsai said that the nation’s economy “has seen good growth and improved revenues in the past few years, in which time we pushed through the biggest tax reduction in Taiwan’s history.”

“People paid less tax this year and have more money to spend,” she said.

Her administration achieved improved home care services for elderly people, with NT$40 billion （US$1.3 billion） in funding allocated for next year, up from NT$5 billion in 2016, she said.

Opening a campaign office in Taichung, she said that her government has boosted the “baby bonus” subsidy to help alleviate young couples’ financial burdens.

Benefits have been increased to pay nursery and kindergarten fees, with the budget for them being tripled from NT$20 billion in 2016 to NT$60 billion this year, Tsai said.

“Over the past four years, we have allocated more funding and improved programs to take care of elderly people, children and other sectors of society,” she said. “Economic growth has provided more opportunities for young people to raise families.”

Taiwanese businesses are returning at an increasing pace to invest in Taiwan by setting up new operations and adding production facilities, which would continue, she added.

新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES