MOF asked to list lottery income in 2009 budget

Written by Writer on Monday, October 13th, 2008

MOF asked to list lottery income in 2009 budget

TAIPEI, Taiwan –– The Budget Center of the Legislative Yuan has asked the Ministry of Finance to clearly list the annual public welfare lottery income of NT$2 billion among its income budget for 2009.

The center made the request after finding the MOF just symbolically list NT$110 million worth of such income among the “miscellaneous incomes” of the national coffers for fiscal 2009, although the Chinatrust Commercial Bank, which wins the bid to issue public welfare-oriented lottery tickets for a period of six years from 2007 through 2013, has promised to give NT$2.0868 billion as feedback to the government per year.

The center also found that the MOF has spread the lottery feeback income into several funds, including the social welfare fund under the Ministry of the Interior, the indigenous peoples development fund under the Council of Indigenous Peoples, the health care fund under the Department of Health, and the employment stabilization foundation under the Council for Economic Planning and Development.

Such a practice by the MOF has violated the Budget Act, which stipulates that lottery feedback should be all given to the “national coffers” instead of being spread as incomes of other funds operated by various government units.

Furthermore, there is still some NT$870 million yet to be “spread into any other government units as part of their fiscal incomes,” according to the Budget Center.

In response, the MOF said that the distribution of the annual lottery feedback income of NT$2 billion is based on a resolution made at the 12th meeting of the members of a committee responsible for the management and utilization of the public welfare lottery feedback income.” And all the annual income of NT$2 billion has been incorporated into the fiscal income budget of the national coffers for 2009.