PUBLIC FINANCE AND
TAXATION -
Chapter 3.
Up to and including 1939, the Colony's financial year coincided with the calendar year but thereafter the financial year was changed to the twelve months ending on 31st March. The budget from 1940/41 thus covered the period of fifteen months from 1st January, 1940 to the 31st March, 1941. Owing to the occupation of Hong Kong by the Japanese at the end of 1941, no final figures are, of course, available for the year 1941/42. The Colony was under British Military Administration from August, 1945, up to 30th April, 1946, and Civil Administration was resumed from the 1st May, 1946. The Estimates for 1946/47 accordingly relate to the period of eleven months from the 1st May, 1946, to the 31st March, 1947, and those for 1947/48 to the twelve months period from the 1st April, 1947, to the 31st March, 1948.
Revenue & Expenditure.
The foregoing will explain the gaps in the following table of Revenue and Expenditure for the last five years for which figures are available:
1939
Revenue $
41,478,052
Expenditure Surplus
Deficit
$
$
37,949,116 3,528,936
$
1940/41
(15 months)
70,175,114
64,787,556 5,387,558
1941/42
(Estimated)
56,786,000
60,642,715
3,856,715
1946/47
(11 months)
82,141,556
85,624,391
3,482,835
1947/48
(Estimated)
109,839,750
109,834,355
5,395
Expenditure for 1946-47.
The Estimates for 1946-47, which were framed soon after the re-occupation of the territory, when little reliable information. was available as to revenue and expenditure prospects, provided for Revenue of some $51,300,000 and Expenditure of approximate- ly $167,850,000, leaving a deficit of about $116,550,000. Owing to the rapid economic recovery of the Colony and the imposition of a number of new taxes, it soon became apparent that the
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