The KMT wants to use this year's excess tax revenue to give every citizen NT$20,000 in cash — good news for the public and for domestic consumption, but it pushes the Executive Yuan's authority over the budget into confrontation.

• As the Legislative Yuan's new session opens, the KMT has listed a "universal NT$20,000 cash handout" as a priority bill, seeking to mandate it by legislation rather than grant the Executive Yuan a blank cheque.
• The rationale is excess tax revenue: NT$670 billion above target by the end of August, with the full-year figure expected to exceed NT$1 trillion. Applying last year's 40 percent ratio for returning taxes to the public, roughly NT$400 billion-plus would be enough to fund a NT$20,000 handout.
• The AI boom has driven Taiwan's technology supply chain, with demand for components and finished products growing several times over — the main reason for the surge in tax revenue.
• The KMT says that even with the Executive Yuan proposing a record NT$600 billion supplementary budget, the two are not in conflict and no borrowing would be required.
• At the same time, it wants to raise the elderly farmers' allowance to NT$15,000 per person per year, with the central government covering the full cost.

Outlook: Excess tax revenue next year is projected to reach as much as NT$2 trillion, so the handout may well be no less than NT$20,000 — but the bill must first survive the tug-of-war between the Executive Yuan and the Legislative Yuan.