Legislative Yuan Han Guoyu. (File photo)
The Legislative Yuan passed this year’s central government general budget on third reading on August 14. It has not yet been sent to the Presidential Office and the Executive Yuan, and the general budget cannot be announced and take effect. Looking back on the 25 years of the Bian, Ma, Tsai, and Lai governments, the general budget bill was announced by the president and took effect within one month after the third reading on average. For 80% of the total budget bills, the Legislative Yuan requested the president to announce it within one month after the third reading. Among them, 2018 took the shortest time, taking only 8 days to complete the announcement, and the longest was the 2014 general budget bill, which took 59 days from Legislative Yuan Han Guoyu's gavel to the president's announcement.
The 2015 central government general budget was sent to the Legislative Yuan on August 29 last year. It was not passed until the third reading on August 14 this year. It was delayed for 351 days, setting a record for the latest central government general budget to be passed. However, as of today, the results of the third reading have not yet been sent to the Executive Yuan and the Presidential Office, preventing the budget from officially taking effect. Legislative Yuan Han Guoyu said that he would ask the president to make an announcement before the next session starts on September 29.
Review the review schedule of the central government’s general budget proposals over the years. During the Tsai administration, when You Xikun of the Democratic Progressive Party served as the Legislative Yuan, the 110-year general budget was read on the third reading on January 29, 2021, and the president announced it on February 9; the 111-year general budget was read on the third reading on January 28, 2022, and The President will announce it on February 18; the 112-year general budget will be read for the third time on January 19, 2023, and will be announced on February 16; the 113-year general budget will be read for the third time on December 19, 2023, and will be announced by the president on January 8, 2024.
If we look back at the Legislative Yuan during the Ma government, when Wang Jinping of the Kuomintang was in office, the 102 annual general budget was read for the third time on January 15, 2013 and announced on February 6; the 103 annual general budget was read for the third time on January 14, 2014. The bill was completed and announced on February 5; the 104-year general budget was read for the third time on January 23, 2015, and the president announced it on February 4; the 105-year general budget was read for the third time on December 18, 2015, and the president completed the announcement on January 6 of the following year.
During the Bian administration, Congress also faced the dilemma of "a small government and a large opposition." The Legislative Yuan, controlled by Wang Jinping, held the third reading of the 1995 general budget on January 13, 2006, and the president completed the announcement on February 6; the third reading of the 1996 general budget was held on June 15, 2007, but was postponed to July 25 for announcement; the third reading of the 1995 general budget was held on January 13, 2006, and the president announced it on February 6.
In the past 25 years under the Bian, Ma, Tsai and Lai governments, the central government's general budget has been completed from the third to the presidential announcement. Most of them will be completed within a month on average, with the shortest taking only 8 days in 2018. However, looking back at the Legislative Yuan under the chairmanship of Han Guoyu, except for the third reading of the 2015 general budget bill, which was still stuck in the Legislative Yuan for more than a month, the 114 general budget bill completed its third reading on January 21, 2025, and was not announced by the president until March 21, with a gap of 59 days.
