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Bendget
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PART 1
Summary and Assessment
FURTHER COMMENTS ON THE 1977/78 BUDGET
The Financial Secretary's budget speech attracted 16 more editorials during the week under review. The extension of the public assistance scheme to able-bodied unemployed adults between 18 and 55 drew a mixed reception from six papers. The Hong Kong Times, Wah Kiu Yat Po, Sing Pao and Tin Tin Yat Po basically supported the expansion of the scheme. The Hong Kong Times and Wah Kiu argued that the Government should not worry too much about abuses as one of the virtues of the Chinese people was that they would not be willing to live on welfare hand-outs if they could help it. Both papers called on the Government not to make life unreasonably difficult for the jobless by placing too many restrictions on eligibility. Sing Pao suggested that if the Government was to help the unemployed, assistance must be set at a level necessary for basic subsistence. Tin Tin Yat Po described relief for the jobless as "no more than a first step towards a comprehensive welfare system."
The Hong Kong Daily News, however, expressed doubts about the introd- uction of unemployment benefits. The emphasis, it said, should be on finding jobs for the unemployed and not on providing cash assistance to them. "A negative or unsound social security system would be detrimental to the normal development of society," it said. The Communist Wen Wei Po accused the Government of dragging its feet for two years before admitting that it was not the right thing to leave the unemployed outside the scope of public assistance scheme.
The concession on personal allowance for salaries tax came under criticism from Ming Pao Evening News and the left-wing Ching Po. Ming Pao Evening News said the concession "is not only unsatisfactory but runs counter to the principle that tax regulations must be simple and clear." The least the Government could do and should do, it said, was to raise the allowance to $12,500 for a single person and to $25,000 for a married couple without attaching strings to the concession. In another editorial, the paper said the allowance should be pegged to the cost of living index.
Commenting on the home ownership scheme, Kung Sheung Daily News suggested that the sale prices of flats under the scheme should be at least 20 per cent lower than that in the private sector. It also suggested that flats should be sold only to people in the middle and lower income brackets.
There was some concern over the possibility that fees and charges might be put up later during the year. The left-wing Ching Po said it was a waste of time to comment on the budget because there was now no need to include tax increases and increases in fees and charges in it. Kung Sheung Daily News hoped that the Government would not increase indirect taxes and fees and other charges in the new financial year.
Two papers, Kung Sheung Daily News and the Communist New Evening Post, criticised the Government over the rates issue. The New Evening Post expressed concern saying that if the rateable values remained unchanged, there was a likelihood that property tax and Crown rents would rise dramatically. Kung Sheung said there was still too wide a gap between rateable values and actual rents.