Premier Wu Deh-yih argued Monday that a proposed bill to stimulate industrial innovation is not a giveaway to high-tech industries or conglomerates, as critics charge, and he said he hopes the bill can be passed in the new legislative session. Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng promised that the bill will be listed as the top priority in the next legislative session, which is scheduled to start Tuesday and end on June 15. Rebutting the legislation's critics, Wu said the bill is not intended to benefit any particular industry but will provide incentives to any industry or company that focuses on innovation, R&D, talent cultivation, and job creation. To make the bill more palatable to critics, however, the Cabinet decided to withdraw the controversial Article 30, which would have offered a preferential 15 percent corporate income tax rate to any of the world's 500 biggest companies that locate their headquarters in Taiwan. Those opposing the clause argued that the special rate would have unfairly benefited Taiwan's handful of companies in the top 500. But the chairman of one of those companies, Terry Gou of the Hon Hai Group, has threatened to move the company's headquarters out of Taiwan if the bill passes and his company does not benefit. Meanwhile, to boost employment, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said Monday that a provision will be added to the bill that would grant small- and medium- sized enterprises (SMEs) in conventional industries a subsidy of NT$10,000 per month for six months for every additional worker they employ. If the SMEs hire older workers, the subsidies could be extended to one year. According to ministry officials, the average cost of subsidizing an additional worker would be NT$100,000, so the plan's NT$3 billion budget could create about 30,000 job opportunities, they estimated. 