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HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL.
to "do her bit" as a part of the British Empire. That sum represents only a few hours of the Imperial War Expenditure, and nothing that the Colony can give can be of any material financial assistance to England. This being so, I feel the less reluctant to discuss the quantum of the proposed gift in relation to the Colony's capacity. A gift of $7,000,000 represents 21.5% on the yearly average revenue for the past ten years of 321⁄2 million. If to this amount we were to add the special Defence expenditure of 24 million, and the Military Contribution of 6 million, the total amount would come to $15,250,000.00, which is 46.9% on the yearly average of 322 million. I cannot help thinking that the gift is too much for the Colony, having regard both to the Colony's position and to the Imperial needs at the present time. I venture to think that for 1940, and until the Colony's position becomes a little more clarified, the gift to England should not exceed $3,000,000.
As we are all agreed that the Colony should make the best contribution of which it is capable, the problem confronting this Council resolves itself to one of finding the best means of raising the money.
Since the underlying idea is a free and spontaneous gift by the Colony to England, and not a tribute to be exacted from an unwilling population, the following broad principles should, in my opinion, govern the choice of means:---
(1) That, if possible, the means chosen should not involve a violent departure from the Colony's fiscal policy, which has been in existence for nearly a century; and
(2) That the means adopted should command as much popular approval as possible: at least it should not go counter to deep-rooted and fundamental objections of a substantial portion of the community.
Moreover, it seems to me that the amount of the gift should be subordinated to the means available, based on the above principles, rather than that the means should be adopted in violation of those principles for the sake of obtaining an arbitrarily decided amount. Accordingly I am bound to say that I do not agree with the Govern- ment view that the imposition of an income tax is by far the most suitable means to give effect to the natural desire of everyone to bear his just burden for the common cause, for it violates both of the principles I have suggested.
There can be no reasonable doubt that views opposed to the introduction of income tax have been consistently held by many people in the Colony for at least a quarter of a century. Moreover, the Chinese opposition to this measure must be well known to Govern- ment. When the idea of an income tax was mooted in connection with the 1914-1918 war the then Senior Chinese representative on
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