Taiwan's budget fight has turned into a constitutional argument, and it is bad news for Premier Cho Jung-tai, whose pay is frozen for the rest of the year while the opposition digs in.

• The legislature passed the 2026 budget and froze Premier Cho Jung-tai's salary from September through December.
• President Lai Ching-te, when publishing the budget, wrote that the constitution protects the right to hold public office and that personnel costs are legally required spending, so lawmakers should not cut or freeze them.
• The Taiwan People's Party fired back that this is only Lai's personal opinion, not a binding constitutional ruling; only the Constitutional Court can decide what is constitutional.
• TPP chairman Huang Kuo-chang argued that if the constitution protects the premier's salary, it should also protect pensions for retired police and firefighters, which passed into law but have not been paid out.
• TPP lawmakers say the government cannot selectively call the premier's pay untouchable while refusing to budget for military, police, and firefighter pay that is equally required by law.

Outlook: Expect the pay freeze to stand unless the government takes the fight to the Constitutional Court, and the dispute over police and firefighter pensions will likely become the opposition's next line of attack.