Taipei mayoral hopeful Shen Po-yang is promising a big annual cash program for young people, good news for under-25s in the city but a target for critics who say he has not said where the money comes from.

• His three-part plan would cost the city about NT$3 billion a year, mostly a "city youth fund" that tops up savings so a 22-year-old walks away with NT$500,000 as starter capital.
• The rest goes to subsidized AI tools for young people and a program that funds youth-proposed projects, including trips abroad.
• Critics point out the price tag is more than twice the combined yearly budgets of all six major cities' youth agencies, and dwarfs Taipei's own NT$490 million youth budget.
• Shen counters that Taipei runs a NT$250 billion budget and should spend at least 1% on young people, tying it to President Lai's push to share the gains from AI.
• He also pushed for wider family support — school-route safety, school lunch quality, bullying and child abuse hotlines — arguing raising kids matters as much as having them.

Outlook: Expect the funding question to become a central attack line as the Taipei mayoral race heats up.