Lai administration proposes another universal cash handout in 2027

The Lai administration has proposed another universal cash handout in 2027, and while an expert says the policy can help redistribute wealth, he cautions against letting it become a routine measure, even as people interviewed by TCN expressed mixed views. 

2027 cash handout plan

President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) said on Aug. 17, after receiving a briefing on the Executive Yuan’s proposed 2027 central government budget, that stronger economic growth would allow the government to add NT$235.7 billion (about US$7.4 billion) in spending for a universal NT$10,000 cash payment. 

Lai said the proposal would maintain a balanced budget with no net new borrowing, allowing the benefits of artificial intelligence to be shared by all.

The Executive Yuan approved the proposed 2027 general budget on Aug. 20. Finance Minister Chuang Tsui-yun (莊翠雲) said the government would respect the Legislative Yuan’s budget-review authority and would promptly plan the disbursement timetable only after lawmakers pass the budget through a third reading.

Chuang said the NT$10,000 cash handout is intended to be universal and will not include a means test. Details on eligibility and distribution methods have not yet been announced and will be set out in a later implementation plan. 

Fu Kun-chi (傅崐萁), caucus whip of the opposition Kuomintang (KMT), said on Aug. 21 that the KMT supports a universal cash handout. Arguing that economic growth this year has substantially exceeded last year’s level, he said the caucus hopes to raise the payment to between NT$20,000 and NT$30,000 and will discuss the proposal further.

Previous measures

Taiwan has previously used consumer vouchers, stimulus vouchers and cash handouts five times in response to major economic circumstances.

In 2009, during the administration of then-President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), the government issued NT$3,600 in consumer vouchers per person to boost domestic spending amid the effects of the the global financial crisis.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) administration introduced Triple Stimulus Vouchers in 2020, allowing people to pay NT$1,000 for NT$3,000 in spending credits.

The government issued NT$5,000 in Quintuple Stimulus Vouchers per person in 2021, extending efforts to stimulate domestic demand and support businesses affected by the pandemic.

In 2023, amid higher-than-expected tax revenues and the post-pandemic recovery, the government adopted direct cash handouts for the first time, distributing NT$6,000 to each eligible person.

In 2025, in response to shifting international tariffs and the need to bolster economic resilience, the opposition KMT and Taiwan People's Party jointly pushed through a special budget, under which a special act mandated a universal cash handout of NT$10,000 per person. It marked the first such payout since President Lai took office.

If implemented, the 2027 plan would mark Taiwan's sixth nationwide voucher-or-cash program in this sequence and the second cash handout under the Lai administration.

Concerns over normalization

National Development Council Deputy Minister Kao Shien-quey (高仙桂) said at the Aug. 20 press conference that cash handouts can increase disposable income and expand private consumption. She added that the policy also has an income-transfer effect for lower-income and disadvantaged households.

Tu Sheng-tsung (杜聖聰), chair of the Department of Radio and Television at Ming Chuan University, told TCN that cash handouts carry an element of wealth redistribution, but should not become a routine instrument of governance or used as a tool for party competition and election planning.

Tu said the core principle of the budget system is that the government should first identify policy needs and propose reasonable spending plans, which should then be reviewed and supervised by the legislature. 

Major fiscal decisions, he said, should not be repeatedly expanded in response to partisan competition.

Including cash handout spending in future general budgets could also place political pressure on opposition parties during budget reviews, Tu said, as they may face political costs whether they support or oppose the proposal.

He said Taiwan’s political polarization has deepened in recent years, while digital communications and social media have further sharpened divisions between the pan-blue and pan-green camps, narrowing the space for centrist and rational debate.

Under such circumstances, Tu noted that even a policy broadly supported by the public could become another arena for partisan confrontation, shifting the debate away from fiscal discipline and actual policy needs.

If cash handouts become a long-term means of political mobilization, he said, the public may increasingly judge government performance through short-term financial gains. 

Repeatedly reducing public debate to the question of whether the government will distribute money could weaken attention to institutions, fiscal sustainability and national competitiveness, Tu said.

Declining political trust and civic disengagement could also give greater influence to more extreme or populist political forces, he added.

Mixed street-level views

Mr. Chao, who works in the music industry, told TCN that he had spent previous consumer vouchers and cash handouts on consumption and found they provided some help in improving daily life.

He said cash handouts can assist ordinary people, particularly lower-income households, adding that an extra NT$10,000 could amount to roughly another month’s worth of living expenses for some households. 

Mr. Lo, who works in manufacturing, told TCN that he would also spend the cash handout, but did not believe it would provide any meaningful benefit to him because of his relatively high income.

Lo said government budgets should be used for infrastructure and development rather than indiscriminate cash handouts.

Ms. Pai, who works in the health industry, expressed a similar view. She told TCN that she had used previous cash handouts for consumption but did not feel they had provided any particular benefit. 

She said the government should carefully plan how to use taxpayers’ money rather than distribute cash indiscriminately.

Economic impact

The effectiveness of Taiwan’s previous cash handout policies remains debated.

In its audit report on the central government’s 2025 final accounts, the National Audit Office stated that it had asked the Ministry of Finance in June 2024 to consider establishing a mechanism for evaluating the effectiveness of cash handouts. However, such an evaluation mechanism was still not included in the planning for the 2025 payout.

An online survey report released by Academia Sinica’s Institute of Economics on July 13 found that 81.15% of respondents had spent their NT$10,000 payments by March, but only 36.26% said they had used the money for spending they had not originally planned. 

The report estimated the marginal propensity to consume at 0.29, meaning that every NT$10,000 distributed corresponded to roughly NT$2,900 in additional consumption, suggesting that the policy’s stimulus effect was limited.