No Matter How Rushed, The Law is the Law

No Matter How Rushed, The Law is the Law
China Times Editorial (Taipei, Taiwan, ROC)
A Translation
June 12, 2008

The new government has been in office less than a week. Yet it is already asking for a supplementary budget in order to increase domestic demand and construct public infrastructure. Logically speaking local governments ought to welcome such a budget. To everyone's surprise the Legislative Yuan Budgetary Research Center announced it considers such subsidies illegal. Although Blue and Green camp legislators see matters differently, their conclusions are identical. Both have sharply denounced this 100 billion NT budget package. Both Blue and Green camp local government leaders are equally dissatisfied. The new cabinet has just come to power. Yet its first act has come to such an ignominious end. This ought to be considered a warning sign.

Why has a cabinet made up of veteran financial and economics experts fumbled so badly? Because it is congenitally defective. How? Over the past eight years people have endured too much pain. This inspired the Ma team to wage an election campaign proclaiming "We're ready!" and "Everything will be better, as soon as Ma takes over!" The result was Ma Ying-jeou received over 7 million votes, 2 million more than his opponent. Once the KMT returned to power, public expectations that "Everything will be better, as soon as Ma takes over!" became a cross the new administration had to bear.

In response to such expectations, the KMT think tank held intensive meetings just before the new administration assumed office on May 20. It explored ways to ensure that everything would actually get better when Ma took over. This is how the short-term contingency budget came into being. The intentions were good. The economic prospects were too depressing. Expanding domestic demand can revitalize economic growth, therefore it is a feasible approach. Over the past eight years the DPP government has also used supplementary budgets to underwrite additional construction or increase public employment, in order to revive the economy,.

But the supplementary budgets or special budgets proposed by the DPP government over the past eight years encountered the same problems as the new cabinet. Therefore the Legislative Yuan Budgetary Research Center will issue a report pointing out, with few exceptions, violations of the Budget Law. What's embarrassing is that for the past eight years the Legislative Yuan Budgetary Research Center has been a weapon of the KMT. But because the supplementary budget involved local government interests, KMT legislators merely went through the motions. They didn't block extravagant expenditures. They allowed the legal dispute over the supplementary budget and the special budget to remain unresolved, for eight years. Now that the KMT has returned to power, the issue is blowing up in its own face.

According to the Budget Law, supplementary budgets and special budgets are subject to preconditions. Supplementary budgets are responses to expanded authority, expanded operations, or major accidents. Shortfalls in revenue or major accidents will be brought to the President's attention by the Executive Yuan committee. Surely the recent change in ruling party cannot be considered a "major accident?" The DPP government submitted similar budgets to the Legislative Yuan in the past. These budgets were investigated by the Control Yuan. One year they discovered a 7.4 billion shortfall in revenue. The Executive Yuan failed to make up the shortfall in accordance with the law by using the previous year's surplus. The Control Yuan was forced to "correct" the Ministry of Finance's oversights. The special budget, meanwhile, being more akin to a transitional budget, must meet requirements for transitional budgets.

From this perspective, the Executive Yuan's decision to invoke the short-term emergency supplementary budget and special budget amendment is questionable. For example, the Executive Yuan originally assumed that weekend cross-strait charter flights and the arrival of mainland tourists in July would be an obvious and effective short term panacea providing a boost to the economy. That is why the Bureau of Environmental Protection proposed a 38,500,000 NT "environmental upgrade in response to mainland passengers arrival on Taiwan" supplementary budget. The amount may have been small, but the Legislative Yuan Budgetary Research Center nevertheless cited it as a Budget Law violation. The Bureau of Environmental Protection's needs were met. But they were promptly deleted from the supplementary budget and instead incorporated into regular budget expenditures.

This is the easy part. Many local governments' budget items have encountered similar problems. They have been rejected by the Executive Yuan and the relevant ministries. They have been asked to reconsider their requests. County and municipal governments first submitted their requests in late April, after the KMT think tank announced its proposal and local party heads had engaged in a preliminary exchange of views. They submitted a second request after the new cabinet took office on May 20. They submitted a third request after a controversy erupted in the Legislative Yuan. All told, county and muncipal leaders submitted three or four versions. After they submitted their budgets, they dared not assume that they would be approved. As a result, both budgets have been submitted to the Legislative Yuan for consideration or for first instance review. Yet the details were finalized only on June 20. What is this besides a joke at the Legislative Yuan's expense?

The new administration has taken office. Its earnest attempt to ensure that "Everything will get better as soon as Ma takes over" deserves affirmation. But some things simply cannot be rushed. The government's two major concerns, the annual budget and pending legislation are just such things. The new cabinet is not fully in place. The incoming administration does not fully understand how the outgoing administration's budget has been allocated. It does not understand local government needs. Nor does the new cabinet have time to get caught up on such matters. It must hurry up and propose supplementary budget cuts and special budget amendments. These are examples of haste making waste.

The new cabinet may be in a big hurry. The Legislative Yuan Budgetary Research Center has cited a number of legal violations. But no matter how unhappy the Legislative Yuan may be with the Executive Yuan's budget, the people are suffering. As long as the budget is not outrageous, it should be passed. Most importantly, the 2009 central government budget is about to come out. No matter how difficult it may be, the new cabinet must find time to work closely with the various ministries, legislators, and even local governments. It cannot make such decisions on its own, behind closed doors.

中時電子報
中國時報 　2008.06.12
再急也得依法定程序行事
中時社論

　新政府就任不到一周，推出擴大內需與公共建設相關的追加減預算案，照說這個以補助地方為主的預算，應該受到地方政府的歡迎，沒想到經立法院預算中心評估認為有違法之虞；藍綠立委見解雖不一，炮口卻完全一致，打得這筆千億預算滿頭包，而地方政府首長不分藍綠也都不滿意，新閣上台第一件「政事」就落得如此下場，確實是個警訊。

　一個基本上以老手組成財經金隊伍的內閣，何以會如此陣腳大亂？這裡頭當然有先天不足的因素，什麼是先天不足？因為過去八年，慘澹太久，馬團隊以「準備好了」成功營造「馬上就好」的想像，讓馬英九拿下七百多萬選票，以二百多萬的票差當選總統，國民黨重新贏回政權，「馬上就好」既是民意的期待，更是新政府的壓力。

　為了回應這股期待，新政府在五二○就職前，就透過國民黨智庫系統密集開會，研究「馬上就好」的各種可能方案，推出短期應急預算構想就這麼成型。持平來看，構想起心動念是良善的，因為市景太低迷，用擴大內需的方式振興經濟成長，確實是個方法；就像過去八年，民進黨政府同樣用追加減預算辦理擴大公共建設或就業服務等等，用意就是在振興景氣。

　但是，過去八年民進黨政府提出追加減預算案或是特別預算案，和這一回新內閣碰到的問題都是一樣的，因此幾無例外，立法院預算中心都會來上一本報告：有違反預算法之虞。尷尬的是，過去八年立法院預算中心的報告是國民黨的武器，但涉及地方建設利益，國民黨立委虛晃一招，也沒真擋下任何天大的預算，只是讓追加減預算案與特別預算案的法理爭議，持續八年未決，直到國民黨重新執政，倒打了自己一耙。

　根據預算法，要辦理追加減和特別預算，都是有清楚的條件需求，追加預算得依法律增加機關、業務或發生重大事故；追減預算得發生歲收短收或發生重大事故經行政院會提請總統以令裁減之。怎麼說，政黨輪替都不該是「重大事故」吧！民進黨政府過去提報類似預算案，曾被立法院函送監察院調查，有一年真的發生歲收短缺七十四億，行政院未依法辦理追減預算而挪用前年歲計賸餘彌補，當時的財政部還被監察院「糾正」了一番。至於特別預算，那更得是「跨年度預算」才符合編列要旨。

　從這個角度看，行政院要短期應急的追加減預算和特別預算修正案都有相當大的討論空間。隨便舉例，在行政院初始想法中，七月開放兩岸周末包機與陸客觀光，是最明顯有效提振經濟的短效良方，因此，環保署就提列「因應陸客來台提升環境生活」追加預算三千八百五十萬，數額不多，但就被立法院預算中心直指為涉嫌違反預算法的項目之一，環保署的需求還是要做，但是立刻從追加減預算中剔除，改納入環保署的例行預算支出。

　這還是相對簡單的，許多地方政府提報的預算項目，都碰到類似問題，而遭到行政院相關部會打回票，要求地方政府重議。從四月底國民黨智庫提出構想，和黨籍地方首長初步交換意見，縣市政府提列過一次，五二○新閣到位正式再報一次，立法院開審引發爭議，再改提報一次，來來回回，縣市首長就提報了三、四次版本，而且提報後還不敢確知會不會過關。結果，兩項預算案都已提送立法院審議，甚至完成初審，然而，細目卻得等到六月廿日才會拍板定案，這不是開立法院的玩笑嗎？

　新政府上台，卯足全力希望「馬上就好」，這股認真值得肯定，但是，很多事急不得也不能急。展現政府政策的兩大主軸：預算與法案，都是急不得的大事。新閣未到位，前政府的預算執行狀況如何，新人未盡了解，遑論地方需求，新閣也來不及先期了解。急乎乎地推出追加減預算案與特別預算修正案，就是愈急愈搞不定的例子。

　情勢既已如此，新內閣再急也急不來，儘管立法院預算中心臚列數項有違法之虞，換言之，立法院再不滿意行政院這次預算編列，基於疾民所疾、苦民所苦，只要不是太過離譜，應該會放行通過。重要的是，接續下來的九十八年度中央政府總預算的概算編列在即，新內閣再辛苦都得挪出時間，和各部會、立委、乃至地方政府密切溝通，不能再關在辦公室裡做決策了。