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DRAFT SPEECH BY HON W C L BROWN, OBE, JP LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL 6.2.85
Inland Revenue (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 1984
Sir,
Last year two Bills were introduced into this Council to amend the Inland Revenue Ordinance.
The first Bill was aimed primarily at safeguarding the tax yield from profits tax from certain avoidance measures which
That became possible following on the removal of interest tax.
- with some amendments - in June Bill was passed by this Council - 1984, although some of its side effects are still the subject of public debate and argument.
The second Bill, which we are considering this afternoon, has a quite different purpose. It tackles the problem caused by taxpayers delaying payment of tax by abuse of the practice whereby the Commissioner of Inland Revenue permits the payment of tax to
This Bill be deferred pending objections raised by the taxpayer.
was not passed last year; instead it was held over to enable a LegCo Ad Hoc Group to study the many representations received from
I the public in general and the business sector in particular. speak as the Convener of that Ad Hoc Group.
The Group has met with the Commissioner of Inland Revenue and representatives of the Financial Secretary, and after many hours of deliberation agreement has been reached on a number of amendments which I will introduce at the Committee Stage.
Let me make it quite clear that Unofficial Members have
It is a fact that no quarrel with the object of this legislation. significant amounts of tax are held over.
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It is a fact that the
vast majority of demands held over are eventually decided in favour of the Inland Revenue Members will recall that the Public Accounts Committee of this Council raised this issue during its public hearings last year and was informed that of some 20,000 objections lodged in any one year only 300 or 400 would eventually be dealt with by the Board of Review.
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