Maybe KMT aparatchiks with mainland wives tend to be poorer for some reason.
This morning my wife mentioned that only Chinese spouses are elligible but not other foreign spouses, but I can’t verify that. It seems the logic is either that families with Mainland wives are considered lower income and deserve assistance or that they are less foreign than ‘real’ foreigners… Or both…[/quote]
Don’t know about that, there are plenty of foreign spouses from Vietnam, Indonesia, etc. in Taiwan as well. Most are ethnically Chinese as well. Would sort of contradict the spirit of ROC if only PRC Chinese qualified and not the other Chinese.
Regarding counterfeiting:
[quote]The government was urged Sunday to come up with handy devices to allow shop owners to verify the authenticity of the free shopping vouchers that it plans to distribute early next year to all the country’s citizens in a bid to spur domestic spending and boost the country’s economic growth.
Vendors at a night market in the eastern county of Hualien voiced concern Sunday that they will have no time during hectic sales hours to verify whether the shopping vouchers they will be asked to take instead of cash next year are authentic if the government does not supply a convenient method to check whether vouchers are counterfeit.
[color=#0000FF]The vendors demanded that the Executive Yuan provide concrete instructions and effective information on how to recognize fake vouchers[/color].
A spokesman for a department store in Hualien City said meanwhile that most shopping malls are equipped with money validating machines or pens that enable shop owners to validate the authenticity of paper money, but he added that so far, [color=#BF0000]there seems to be no way to ascertain the authenticity of the shopping vouchers. [/color]
[/quote]
From CNA
As to who will get it, they are still discussing the proposals:
[quote]Vice Minister of the Interior Chien Tai-lang (簡太郎) said that approximately 160,000 foreign spouses would qualify for the vouchers, which would translate into an additional NT$500 million (US$14.97 million) to the originally earmarked NT$82.9 billion program.
To qualify as a recipient, [color=#0000FF]the preliminary criterion for immigrants married to Taiwanese nationals is that they have obtained right of abode, regardless of whether it is a temporary or permanent residence permit[/color], Chien said.
Regulations differ on how Chinese spouses and spouses from other countries can procure residence permits.
[/quote]
From Taipei Times
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2008/11/23/2003429351
No racial thing here, just normal migratory regulations.
My wife told me yesterday it was all foreign spouses… it is for people with either the JFRV or the Unification Visa (!!!)…
That leaves a few thousand Taxpayers paying for the vouchers that voters will get…
[quote=“Icon”][quote]Vice Minister of the Interior Chien Tai-lang (簡太郎) said that approximately 160,000 foreign spouses would qualify for the vouchers, which would translate into an additional NT$500 million (US$14.97 million) to the originally earmarked NT$82.9 billion program.
To qualify as a recipient, [color=#0000FF]the preliminary criterion for immigrants married to Taiwanese nationals is that they have obtained right of abode, regardless of whether it is a temporary or permanent residence permit[/color], Chien said.
Regulations differ on how Chinese spouses and spouses from other countries can procure residence permits.
[/quote]No racial thing here, just normal migratory regulations.[/quote]They are going to spend an extra $15M to give vouchers to anyone with even temporary residence? Hmmm, well we will have to see exactly how this plays out. Seems like a simple idea that is getting more complicated by the day…
In the end, it is simply stupid…
This is the equivalent of printing money, and sending it to people. Wouldn’t it be 1000000000000x more simple just to give a tax break, and send the money to everyone’s bank account?
How will people be able to verify if they are real or not? How much time it will take for the first counterfeit coupon to show up?
[quote=“TaipeiDawg”][quote=“Icon”][quote]Vice Minister of the Interior Chien Tai-lang (簡太郎) said that approximately 160,000 foreign spouses would qualify for the vouchers, which would translate into an additional NT$500 million (US$14.97 million) to the originally earmarked NT$82.9 billion program.
To qualify as a recipient, [color=#0000FF]the preliminary criterion for immigrants married to Taiwanese nationals is that they have obtained right of abode, regardless of whether it is a temporary or permanent residence permit[/color], Chien said.
Regulations differ on how Chinese spouses and spouses from other countries can procure residence permits.
[/quote]No racial thing here, just normal migratory regulations.[/quote]They are going to spend an extra $15M to give vouchers to anyone with even temporary residence? Hmmm, well we will have to see exactly how this plays out. Seems like a simple idea that is getting more complicated by the day…[/quote]
Married, married -meaning they have already paid the price. 
Of course it would, but you can’t stand on TV and wave someone’s tax refund around in the air saying “Look at Moi, Look at Moi, Aren’t I so GOOD I gave all of you all this MONEY”. It’s all about that little daily reminder that Mayor Ma Loves You, Mayor Ma Helps You when times are tough. Because after all the smoke and mirrors have cleared, Mayor Ma Needs You to ReElect Him.
still collecting for my food hamper. Only 3,546 to go. (I have been enlisting the help of several strays in the neighbourhood.) I will, however, need much more help to make the dead line.
Can we have a roster of flob posters who won’t be entitled, please? I need to know who I can laugh and jeer at while smoking my Cohiba courtesy of Ma and his “Love Me, Please Love Me” schtick.
Oh and by the way, Ma? My wife, myself and my newborn son will happily spend your vouchers but we’ll still think you’re a useless conniving prick. In fact, I may just forego my cigar and use the money to have that printed on a t-shirt. :roflmao:
Well done marsupial. I’ve never seen you write so many capital letters in one post. I guess I have Mr. Ma to thank.
You guys think too much!!
I’m just gonna focus on my free money! WooHoo! :discodance:
36 hundred :lick: mmm hmm
3 thousand and six hundred :lick:
San chien liou bai :lick: :lick:
I actually think this method will result in more “stimulation” than a simple tax cut.
Heck! I can’t remember the last time I was THIS stimulated!
Weeee Doggies, Jethro! :lick: 36 hunnert! :lick: 
Tell me it’s not a dream.
Will the vouchers have Ma’s face? You know… like the 100 dolar bills?
But, my biggest problem is why only 3600? Why not 3800? That way we could get the vouchers and say San Ba looking at Ma’s face…
[quote=“sandman”]Can we have a roster of flob posters who won’t be entitled, please? I need to know who I can laugh and jeer at while smoking my Cohiba courtesy of Ma and his “Love Me, Please Love Me” schtick.
Oh and by the way, Ma? My wife, myself and my newborn son will happily spend your vouchers but we’ll still think you’re a useless conniving prick. In fact, I may just forego my cigar and use the money to have that printed on a t-shirt. :roflmao:[/quote] Trade you 2 counterfeit vouchers for one of those shirts in XL - as long as they’re not red…
Of course it would, but you can’t stand on TV and wave someone’s tax refund around in the air saying “Look at Moi, Look at Moi, Aren’t I so GOOD I gave all of you all this MONEY”. It’s all about that little daily reminder that Mayor Ma Loves You, Mayor Ma Helps You when times are tough. Because after all the smoke and mirrors have cleared, Mayor Ma Needs You to ReElect Him.
still collecting for my food hamper. Only 3,546 to go. (I have been enlisting the help of several strays in the neighbourhood.) I will, however, need much more help to make the dead line.[/quote]
I suppose they think the Taiwanese so stupid that they can’t realize that it’s their own tax money that goes to pay for these ridiculous vouchers in the first place. You know what it’s like? It’s like my mother-in-law waiting for her red envelopes to come in before she gives out the smaller envelopes to her grandchildren. The grandchildren don’t know where the money comes from originally.
What will really tip the Taiwanese off is that their year-end bonuses will be about $20,000 less this year. Re-election isn’t bought for a C-Note under these terms, Mr Ma.
Of course it would, but you can’t stand on TV and wave someone’s tax refund around in the air saying “Look at Moi, Look at Moi, Aren’t I so GOOD I gave all of you all this MONEY”. It’s all about that little daily reminder that Mayor Ma Loves You, Mayor Ma Helps You when times are tough. Because after all the smoke and mirrors have cleared, Mayor Ma Needs You to ReElect Him.
still collecting for my food [turd] hamper. Only 3,546 to go. (I have been enlisting the help of several strays in the neighbourhood.) I will, however, need much more help to make the dead line.
[/quote]
you’ve obviously misunderstood the concepts at play here… the reason it isn’t just a tax credit of NT$3600 into everyone’s bank accounts is that people would just leave that extra cash right there in their back accounts and not spend it… which in turn would do SFA for the economy… The whole point of this “stimulus package” is that is supposed to force a wave of consumer spending… people are supposed to spend it, not save it… that’s why what we are going to be given is vouchers, not cash or a tax credit… 36 x NT$100 vouchers that you can spend as if it were cash at any store registered to provide normal numbered receipts… if you don’t spend them, they are just worthless pieces of paper which will expire… if you buy a NT$10 ice cream with one of your NT$100 vouchers, you don’t get your NT$90 change back in cash, it’s spend it all or lose it all, so you’d better buy another 9 ice creams or whatever… that way every last NT worth and undoubtedly a whole chunk more will be spent immediately, bolstering sluggish consumer spending and boosting the economy… or that’s the somewhat dubious plan anyway…
if you were really interested in a protest to show your distaste for the voucher scheme, you’d be better off renting a few busses worth of old folks from Tainan for a day and getting them all to collectively burn their vouchers at some public protest in Taipei, only hassle is the value of political solidarity and principles is well below NT$3600 for 99.9% of Taiwanese, so I doubt you’d find a single green rent-a-geezer willing to burn their free money… maybe you could make a paper bag out of your vouchers, put your turds in it and set it alight on MYJ’s doorstep… 
so how about it, are you willing to put your money where your turds are?..
So, If spend my vouchers in Carrefour, Geant, Costco and so, and keep the money that I would spend there anyway in the bank, what difference does it make?
People will get smart, and they will save the money. Is there any rule saying that you cannot pay the rest of the bill using cash? If not, then it is as easy as doing your normal shopping in the supermarket (which will easily be over 200NT) and give a coupon plus the rest.
How will that save the economy?
They should give coupons to be dispensed in things that are not food, or anything that is normally needed. That would be much more useful to the economy.
mr.boogie, I see you’ve made your “anti/hate KMT” rounds on the 4 to 5 active Taiwan Politics threads this evening. Feel any better?
well, I was out all day trying to do my part on reviving the economy…
If the purpose is to stimulate consumption, can’t foreigners consum as well (or better) than Taiwanese? Many people I know (myself included) are going to save it.
[quote=“mr_boogie”]So, If spend my vouchers in Carrefour, Geant, Costco and so, and keep the money that I would spend there anyway in the bank, what difference does it make?
People will get smart, and they will save the money. Is there any rule saying that you cannot pay the rest of the bill using cash? If not, then it is as easy as doing your normal shopping in the supermarket (which will easily be over 200NT) and give a coupon plus the rest.
How will that save the economy?
They should give coupons to be dispensed in things that are not food, or anything that is normally needed. That would be much more useful to the economy.[/quote]
Even more, how many people will use the vouchers to buy foreign-made products at foreign-retailers? How will THAT stimulate the economy?