Although the total amount of centrally allocated tax revenues that New Taipei City will receive from the central government next year has increased, the per capita figure is the lowest in the country — bad news for local residents and for public works in the city.

• New Taipei has the largest population, yet the amount of central tax revenue each resident receives ranks last in Taiwan.
• Even though the revised Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures raised the weighting given to population, New Taipei's per capita figure still comes in last.
• Kuomintang New Taipei City Councillor Chen Wei-chieh, along with city council candidates Teng Kai-hsun and Ho Yuan-kai, criticised the central government for "posing as generous while cutting subsidies" — adding money with one hand while slashing earmarked subsidies for MRT construction and school electricity bills with the other.
• Most of the additional money will have to be used to fill the gaps left by those cuts, so local resources have not genuinely increased and major construction projects and social welfare spending will be squeezed.

Outlook: The dispute over fiscal allocation is unlikely to be resolved any time soon, and with local elections approaching next year, the clashes between the Kuomintang and the Democratic Progressive Party over the distribution of centrally allocated tax revenues will only intensify.