Taiwan is introducing payments to every resident due to the AI boom. What you need to know

The Taiwanese authorities will send a one-time payment to all residents of the island due to the record economic development provided by the growing global demand for artificial intelligence. This will be the third general award in the last four years. The island actually implements the concept of basic unconditional income, which was tried to be adopted in some countries of the world, but was able to be implemented only in Alaska. How the world treats the idea of paying funds to the population without any conditions is in the Izvestia article.

The Taiwan debate

• Taiwan's President Lai Qingde announced plans to include universal cash payments for all residents of the island in the budget for 2027. The reward will be 10,000 Taiwan dollars ($314). 235.7 billion Taiwan dollars ($7.401 billion) will be allocated for this purpose, that is, about 6% of the projected state budget revenues for next year. The presidential administration did not specify either the method of distribution or the timing of payments, but noted that the residents of the island will be free to decide what to use the allocated money for.

• The allocation of funds was justified by the strong economic growth that Taiwan is experiencing due to the rapid development of artificial intelligence and the growing demand for semiconductors. The island's GDP is expected to grow by 11.05% in 2026, which will be the highest rate in the last 39 years. In the first half of the year, Taiwan's economy grew by 14.15%. However, according to Lai, the benefits of growth are felt only in a narrow set of high-tech sectors, which is why the rest of Taiwan's residents should be compensated.

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• This is not the first time for Taiwan that the Government has made one-time unconditional payments to the entire population. During the 2008 financial crisis and the coronavirus pandemic, it issued vouchers for consumption, and in 2023 and 2025 it switched to paying live money in the amount of 6,000 and 10,000 Taiwan dollars ($195 and $300 at that time) to support the population amid the effects of the pandemic and uncertainty due to the US tariff policy. Not only the indigenous people of Taiwan, but also the holders of a residence permit and the spouses of residents could receive those payments.

• The initiative of the authorities has repeatedly faced criticism. In 2025, the Democratic Progressive Party accused the then-ruling Kuomintang of bribing voters with payments. Now, a year later, the Kuomintang, which has already joined the opposition, accuses the authorities of double standards. At the same time, both parties argued that payments are not an effective tool for supporting broad segments of the population and do not help the economy become more balanced.

• Taiwan's economy does have a significant bias towards the IT industry, which provokes social inequality. The GDP per capita exceeds $40 thousand, which is comparable to the level of Spain, but the average salary on the island is 70% of the Spanish one. The success of the semiconductor industry leads to an increase in export earnings and budget revenues, but it also strengthens the exchange rate of the Taiwanese dollar, increases the cost of living and accelerates housing prices above inflation. Government support for traditional industries and investments in infrastructure in return for distributing money to the public could have an impact on the situation.

Unconditional basic income

• Payments in Taiwan are similar in nature to unconditional basic income, an economic and social concept that assumes that the state must make certain payments to every member of society, regardless of income and employment. The difference is that the BBD assumes regular payments and must be fixed in the legal field, while Taiwan makes payments in a lump sum and coordinates each tranche anew.

• Proponents of the introduction of BDD see it as a tool to combat poverty, as it gives people the opportunity to ensure their basic survival. Payments also make it possible to relieve the bureaucratic apparatus, since replacing social benefits with unconditional remuneration will save people from having to undergo checks and fulfill the requirements for receiving funds. The guarantee of a certain income allows people to feel more free in the labor market and bolder to choose a profession, as well as gives them the opportunity to try their hand at business or devote time to unpaid pursuits such as housekeeping, education or creativity.

• In recent years, the idea of introducing DBMS has been gaining more understanding due to the transformation of the global economy. The introduction of artificial intelligence, the development of robotics and widespread automation of production lead to a decrease in the need for workers, which carries the risks of unemployment and social inequality. The availability of DBMS should evenly redistribute economic benefits so that the income from an innovative economy is received not only by those who directly form it, but by broader segments of the population.

• At the same time, the BBD concept is also actively criticized, primarily because of the financial side of the issue. The government needs to incur huge costs to ensure fair payments, and this is difficult to achieve without a growing economy and higher taxes. Opponents of the BDD claim that its introduction will reduce the labor activity of the population, encourage idleness and lead to the loss of skills and experience. Those who refuse to work because of payments will still be poorer than the economically active population, and besides, they will have to face inflation accelerated by an excess influx of money.

Similar experiments

• Many countries around the world have already tried to introduce certain variants of DBMS, either temporarily or permanently. In Germany, for example, a three-year experiment was completed in 2024, in which 122 people who had jobs received an additional 1,200 euros each. The study showed that they continued to work, while they changed jobs more often and received additional education.

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• At the same time, the Finnish experiment that took place in 2017-2018 led to different results. It involved 2,000 unemployed people who received an additional €560 per month. As in the control group that did not receive payments, almost half of them remained unemployed, and on average they worked only six more days a year. At the same time, the participants in the experiment noted that they improved their psychological health due to the reward.

• In 2016, Switzerland was close to introducing BDD for all citizens. A referendum was held in the country, which proposed to introduce monthly payments of 2,500 francs ($3,000) for all adults and 625 francs ($770) for children. In return, it was proposed to cancel existing payments and raise taxes on a one-time basis. The initiative was not supported by either the political parties or the Government of the country. As a result, 77% of the participants in the referendum opposed the introduction of the BBD.

• The most efficient and durable example of the implementation of the database is the American state of Alaska. Since 1982, he has been directing 25% of the profits from oil production to the Alaska Permanent Fund, whose dividends are distributed each year among the residents of the state. Those who live on its territory during the calendar year, that is, about 80% of the population of Alaska, are eligible for payment. The amount of remuneration varies and depends on the income of the fund. In 2022, the largest premium was paid in the amount of $3,284, but then it did not exceed $2 thousand, and the last time residents of Alaska received a check for $ 1 thousand.