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06-MAY-1992
16:32
HK GOVERNMENT HOUSE
- 3-
+852 521 1868 P.04
this Budget. Accordingly, appropriate adjustments will be made to subsequent rates demands. Rates, as a stable and progressive form of taxation, will nevertheless continue to make an important contribution to general revenue.
7.
The fact that we can now do without a rates increase is clearly good news to the public as well as to the Administration. Nevertheless, it raises the question of how the under-estimation came about. There are two main reasons.
8.
First, revenue from stamp duty, salaries and profits tax and first registration tax have been higher than expected, with the result that total revenue is $2.3 billion above the revised estimate.
9.
A
Secondly, spending on public works is expected to be $3 billion below the revised estimate, as a result of further slippage in the capital works programme.
10. The difference between the first closing figure and the revised estimate figure for revenue is only 2%. Revenue yields are affected by economic factors and cannot be precisely forecast. Recent activity in the stock market and relatively high property prices have, for example, contributed to the increased revenue from stamp duty.
/11. By contrast,