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HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
In due course I shall invite Government to give, not the details of tax collection, of course, but at least an indication whether any section of the community has manifestly paid substantially less than it ought to have done. I sincerely hope that that information wil) refute suggestions that tax evasion is likely to be prevalent.
Finally, I would say that, unless Government can give the Council full assurances as to adequacy of staff, there is, in my opinion, a strong case for postponement of introduction of the measure for another year.
HỌN. DR. CHAU SIK-NIN.-Your Excellency, Without going into all the details embodied in the Draft Bill, I crave the indulgence of Your Excellency and my honourable colleagues for stating at some length the reasons for my opposition to it. My senior Chinese colleague, the Hon. Mr. T. N. Chau, has already made certain obser- vations on the Bill with which I concur. So many other reasons have also been advanced by others that I need not dwell upon them here. I would like, however, to stress a few points which appear to me of some importance. It has been advanced as an argument in favour of an income tax that in addition to the need of raising revenue to meet the Colony's commitments, it is the most equitable form of taxation. I do not question the necessity for raising the required revenue, which is apparent to us all. Indeed, the public is most willing to pay, but what it does object to, and objects most strongly and strenuously, is the method of taxation.
If Government wishes to raise sixteen million dollars, there are plenty of other alternatives whereby the money could be raised without those features to which objections have been raised. It seems that this tax is introduced on the principle that, though only sixteen million dollars are required this year, the foundation must be laid on which the taxation structure can be increased, with hardly any limitation.
Income Tax is a product of the West, that of a political state with a representative government which has advanced to the stage when the maxim "No taxation without representation" has long been accepted as a principle of the constitution. It is a condition of the tax that those who are called upon to pay it should have an effective voice in its imposition as well as in the control of its expenditure. In the circumstances now obtaining in Hong Kong there is no popular representation on the Western basis, and it cannot be said by any stretch of imagination that the population would have any say in the imposition of the Colony's taxation or in the control. of its expenditure. True, we have been promised some measure of self-government, but it is still in the embryonic stage. The tax during the first year may be limited to 10%, but nothing that the taxpayers can say will prevent this rate being raised at the will of the Government.
Hong Kong is also predominantly identical with South China in its social structure. The unit of the Chinese society is that of the family. Where Income Tax has been applied in a society which is highly individualistic it is easy to separate persons who are subject
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