Focus on the BIG picture.
Thursday, Aug 20, 2026
Outside the box.
Here Is What Can Never Happen in Your Country: Taiwan Is Giving Money to All Its People Because It Collected Too Much Tax
President Lai Ching-te says Taiwan plans to give eligible citizens NT$10,000 each next year, sharing the gains of stronger tax revenue and the AI-led technology boom without increasing net public debt.
Taiwan is planning to give money directly to its people because the government has collected more revenue than it needs.
President Lai Ching-te has announced a proposal to give NT$10,000 in cash to every eligible citizen next year—about US$320 per person.
It is a simple idea that many governments manage to make sound impossible: when the country earns more, citizens should receive a share.
The payment is not a loan.
It is not a complicated tax deduction that only benefits people with accountants, property portfolios, or large investments.
It is direct cash for eligible citizens.
Lai has linked the proposal to Taiwan's powerful economic performance, driven by the global boom in artificial intelligence, semiconductors, servers, and advanced technology supply chains.
Taiwan's growth forecast for this year has been raised to 11.05%, a pace that could make it the island's strongest economic expansion in 39 years.
The government plans to add NT$235.7 billion to the 2027 central budget to fund the universal payment.
Lai says the budget will remain balanced after the money is included and that Taiwan's net debt will not increase.
That point matters.
Governments often say there is no money for citizens while finding money for expanding bureaucracies, emergency programmes, consultants, wasteful projects, or subsidies that disappear into corporate balance sheets.
Taiwan's argument is different: if rising tax revenue and economic growth create extra room in the public finances, then the public should benefit directly.
The policy is also a statement about who should gain from artificial intelligence.
Taiwan's chipmakers and technology exporters are central to the global AI economy, but not every Taiwanese citizen works in a semiconductor plant, an engineering laboratory, or a high-tech company.
Millions work in shops, restaurants, transport, tourism, care, construction, education, and ordinary local businesses.
Lai's message is that national prosperity should not be measured only by export figures, stock-market gains, or the profits of the technology sector.
A country can celebrate an AI boom, but if ordinary people see none of its benefits, the celebration becomes a boardroom event rather than a national achievement.
Taiwan has used direct payments before.
In 2025, it approved a separate NT$10,000 cash distribution after a large tax surplus.
Taiwan is making a clear argument: the benefits of the artificial-intelligence boom should not belong only to the biggest companies and their shareholders. When a country collects more money than expected, it should share it with the people—not let it vanish into political backroom deals, fake contracts, and the usual mysterious places under the table, where public money somehow becomes private in the hands of the law makers.
President Lai Ching-te has announced a proposal to give NT$10,000 in cash to every eligible citizen next year—about US$320 per person.
It is a simple idea that many governments manage to make sound impossible: when the country earns more, citizens should receive a share.
The payment is not a loan.
It is not a complicated tax deduction that only benefits people with accountants, property portfolios, or large investments.
It is direct cash for eligible citizens.
Lai has linked the proposal to Taiwan's powerful economic performance, driven by the global boom in artificial intelligence, semiconductors, servers, and advanced technology supply chains.
Taiwan's growth forecast for this year has been raised to 11.05%, a pace that could make it the island's strongest economic expansion in 39 years.
The government plans to add NT$235.7 billion to the 2027 central budget to fund the universal payment.
Lai says the budget will remain balanced after the money is included and that Taiwan's net debt will not increase.
That point matters.
Governments often say there is no money for citizens while finding money for expanding bureaucracies, emergency programmes, consultants, wasteful projects, or subsidies that disappear into corporate balance sheets.
Taiwan's argument is different: if rising tax revenue and economic growth create extra room in the public finances, then the public should benefit directly.
The policy is also a statement about who should gain from artificial intelligence.
Taiwan's chipmakers and technology exporters are central to the global AI economy, but not every Taiwanese citizen works in a semiconductor plant, an engineering laboratory, or a high-tech company.
Millions work in shops, restaurants, transport, tourism, care, construction, education, and ordinary local businesses.
Lai's message is that national prosperity should not be measured only by export figures, stock-market gains, or the profits of the technology sector.
A country can celebrate an AI boom, but if ordinary people see none of its benefits, the celebration becomes a boardroom event rather than a national achievement.
Taiwan has used direct payments before.
In 2025, it approved a separate NT$10,000 cash distribution after a large tax surplus.
Taiwan is making a clear argument: the benefits of the artificial-intelligence boom should not belong only to the biggest companies and their shareholders. When a country collects more money than expected, it should share it with the people—not let it vanish into political backroom deals, fake contracts, and the usual mysterious places under the table, where public money somehow becomes private in the hands of the law makers.