25.
10
As regards my honourable Friend's reference to property tax, the Commissioner of Inland Revenue informs me that a thorough review of existing procedures has been carried out to prevent a recurrence of the misunderstanding. I must, however, point out that there has been nothing like a revenue loss of $16 million because, as anticipated in the Director of Audit's report, most of the assessments concerned fell to be discharged anyway under the exemption provisions of the Inland Revenue Ordinance and the balance is being recovered.
26.
(5) Major Themes
(a) Budgetary strategy
Turning now to the four major themes of this debate and beginning with budgetary strategy: I am not too certain that there is complete understanding of the bases of some of my estimates and of the assumptions underlying some of my forecasts. I say this because I detect a number of
inconsistencies in some of the comments made by some honourable
They are opposed to what my honourable Friend
Members.
They coupled this
Mr. P.C. Woo somewhat misleadingly described as a "scaling down of targets", but they exhibited a degree of nervousness about my tentative package of proposals for raising additional revenue in the three year forecast period. nervousness with reference to the possible impact of my package on the economy. Only my honourable Friend Mr. Wilfred Wong explicitly recognised that I had said that I shall not allow fiscal considerations to override economic realities. said at another point in the budget speech that "the fundamental necessity of our tax system and the rate of growth of public expenditure not damaging the rate of growth of the economy will be my constant pre-occupation".
27.
I also
It is true that honourable Members were not backward in coming forward with alternative suggestions for financing expenditure: improve the efficiency of the existing tax system, tap unspecified sources of indirect taxation, seek loan funds. Yet I have already taken these suggestions into account and have given what I regard as sound reasons for keeping our reserves intact in case my optimistic assumption about
/the.....