The Taipei mayor and the Taipei County magistrate walked out of a meeting on Monday in protest over the central governments plans for allocation of tax revenues among Taipei, Kaohsiung and Taipei County.

The allocation of funds became an issue of contention after Taipei County joined the rank of Taipei and Kaohsiung as an administrative area under the direct jurisdiction of the Cabinet in early May.

During Mondays meeting, a special committee of the Cabinet continued to discuss fund allocation, using NT$150 billion as the basis, although finance officials had acknowledged earlier that the centrally allotted tax revenues for 2008 would amount to NT$250 billion.

Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin （郝龍斌） deplored the committees refusal to use the 2008 figures as the basis for discussions on the grounds that the Law Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures first needs to be amended.

He disagreed with the Cabinets plan to cut NT$20 billion from Taipeis budget and NT$10.5 billion from Kaohsiungs budget and give the money to Taipei County.

Taipei County Magistrate Chou Hsi-wei （周錫瑋） pointed out that the county will see increased activity and operations after being placed under the direct control of the Cabinet, and that the county needs at least an extra NT$62.9 billion in 2008 to balance its budget.

He threatened to resolve the issue through legal action or even encourage Taipei County residents to take to the streets to fight for a fair share of the budget.

According to current regulations, Taipei and Kaohsiung currently are entitled to 43 percent of the centrally allotted tax revenues.