Taiwan Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) on Wednesday defended the government’s plan to distribute NT$10,000 (US$314) to every citizen next year, saying the policy would share the benefits of artificial intelligence with the public without undermining fiscal discipline.

President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) announced the plan on Monday, August 17. Opposition lawmakers have questioned the policy, noting that the Cabinet previously stressed fiscal discipline when proposing legislation to return excess tax revenue to the public. They accused the ruling DPP of applying a double standard by calling the measure an AI “dividend,” while opposition parties described it as “impoverishing Taiwan.”

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the Taiwan Automation Intelligence and Robot Show and Automation Taipei exhibition, Cho said the policy would not displace next year’s planned spending or create additional debt. He said the government expects economic growth of 11.05% this year and has sufficient fiscal capacity to allocate an additional NT$236 billion (US$7.4 billion) for the cash payments. 

Cho said the policy is constitutional because the Cabinet would include it in the budget. He said, “Sharing the AI dividend will not ‘impoverish Taiwan’; it will enrich the people by returning wealth to them. The policy is constitutional and reflects the government’s fiscal success. There is no impoverished Taiwan, only a prosperous Taiwan; no double standard, only meeting the target.”

He added that the government plans to invest an additional NT$100 billion (US$3.1 billion) over the next eight years to help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) upgrade and transform.