Taiwan's main opposition Kuomintang (KMT) has proposed a universal cash handout of TWD20,000 ($628) funded by surplus tax revenues, double the amount announced last month by President Lai Ching-te, Focus Taiwan reported on September 29.

The plan lands weeks before nationwide local government elections in late November, and revives a fight over windfall tax receipts that has pitted the KMT-led legislative majority against Lai's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government since 2025, when the opposition pushed through a TWD10,000 payout the Cabinet initially opposed before accepting it.

The KMT caucus included the measure in a draft "Special Act on Sharing the Fruits of Economic Growth with the Entire Population and Stabilising People's Livelihoods," designated a priority bill in the legislative session that opened on September 29.

KMT caucus leader Fu Kun-chi told reporters that surplus tax revenues, meaning collections above official projections, were surging this year on the back of strong growth in the island's technology sector. Surplus revenues reached TWD528.3bn last year, of which roughly 40%, or TWD230bn, was returned to the public through the TWD10,000 payments, he said.

This year surplus revenues are expected to top TWD1 trillion, Fu said, so returning 40%, or more than TWD400bn, would fund payouts of TWD20,000 each. Even after the Cabinet's TWD600bn supplementary budget request, that sum could be distributed without government borrowing, he added, arguing the money would lift domestic demand and support Taiwanese businesses.

DPP legislative caucus chief executive Chuang Jui-hsiung countered that the 2027 budget proposal already before the Legislature contains funding for a TWD10,000 handout, and that under the constitution lawmakers cannot propose bills that increase budgetary spending. He accused the KMT of campaigning rather than exercising oversight.

"A stable political party truly capable of leading the nation should not constantly call for increasing handouts on a whim," he said.

"The KMT is now calling for a TWD20,000 handout, but what if the Taiwan People's Party (TPP) calls for TWD30,000, or an individual lawmaker calls for TWD50,000," Chuang said, warning of "an endless cycle."

The smaller opposition TPP, the KMT's usual legislative ally, said the government needed a "comprehensive plan" for the surplus, with a "large proportion" going to debt repayment and the rest to elderly welfare benefits, stipends for elderly farmers and school lunches, according to Legislator Hung Yu-shiang.