The government will not sell its shares in the state-owned Taiwan Financial Holding Co. to defray huge public revenue shortfalls unless there is a necessity, Taiwan's premier said Friday. 'We are not so stupid as to sell the cash cow, ' said Premier Wu Den-yih after the Cabinet on Thursday scrapped a plan to increase revenues by selling a stake in the company, mainly because of strong public opposition. During a question-and-answer session in the Legislative Yuan, Wu said Taiwan's national debt will break the NT$14 trillion mark next year, equal to NT$610,000 in debt per capita. He stressed, however, that the government would not try to resolve the financial crisis by selling state-owned land or increasing taxes, but rather by trying to reduce unnecessary expenditures. Clarifying news reports that the government will have to borrow NT$516.2 billion next year to cover its deficit, Wu said that the more than NT$60 billion to be used to retire old debt should be deducted, leaving a need to borrow about NT$450 billion. The Cabinet had planned to sell its shares in Taiwan Financial Holdings to generate an estimated NT$23.7 billion in extra revenues but has now ditched the plan, Wu said, adding that it would be better to keep the company running and maintain its revenue stream. For the time being, borrowing is the best option to address financial issues, the premier added. Wu also said the government has no plans to increase taxes at the moment. Such a move would only be considered after the economy improves, the income of the 'new-poor' and the 'near-poor' rises, and their living conditions are improved significantly. The 'new-poor' refers to those who fail to earn a decent living although they may be far above the poverty line. The 'near-poor' are those who fail to meet means tested social assistance criteria, despite actually living near or below the poverty line. It marked the second time in the past two months that the government had scrapped a plan to sell shares in state-owned enterprises. In a policy reversal last month, the Ministry of Finance ditched a plan to sell shares in state-run Land Bank of Taiwan to raise funds for post-Typhoon Morakot relief and reconstruction. The government had aimed to raise at least NT$39.6 billion from the share sale to fund disaster relief efforts. 