Military Pension Reforms Case: Constitutional Court Hears Heated Oral Arguments

 Military Pension Reforms Case: Constitutional Court Hears Heated Oral Arguments

Source: UDN

June 25, 2019

Yesterday, the Council of Grand Justices (CGJ), sitting as the Constitutional Court, held a hearing on the case concerning the constitutionality of military pension reforms, asking the representatives of the petitioners and the Cabinet to conduct oral arguments over several points of contention in the case listed by the CGJ.

The Cabinet’s representatives stated in the hearing that pension reforms were a necessity as the financial gap of pension funds became wider and wider, adding that justice and fairness between generations would obviously be violated if younger generations at work had to bear the burden for the old pension systems that had overly guaranteed benefits to retired military, civil servants and public school teachers. If the pension funds went bankrupt, the longevity economy of military personnel, civil servants and public school teachers, whether in active duty or retired, would be undermined as a result, the Cabinet’s representatives concluded.

On the part of the petitioners, law professor Lai Lai-kun (賴來焜) and attorney-at-law Lee Han-chung (李漢中) believed that “sustainable pension systems” and “justice between generations” were just pretexts as the finances of the nation were in good shape, and that cutting pensions lacked legitimacy. Chen Chwen-wen (陳淳文), a professor of political science at National Taiwan University, stated that in their pension reforms, in other countries, they might raise the retirement age, increase income-tax withholding rates or hike taxes, so Chen opined that cutting retirees’ pensions was not reasonable.

The CGJ is slated to rule on the constitutionality of the military pension reforms before August 23.

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