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Wednesday, March 14, 1973
In all his years on the Finance Committee, Mr. Szeto said, he had
grown accustomed to the requests for supernumerary posts, but was never once
called upon to deal with redundancy nor had there been any proposal for axing
the "dead woods."
In this respect, the report and recommendations of the efficiency
consultants commissioned to look into the working of the Administration was
keenly awaited, he added.
Commenting on the tax changes, Mr. Szeto said the Financial Secretary's
proposed boost to personal allowances was generally welcomed by the public,
but the abolition of life insurance allowance had "stirred up the hornets' nest."
Retrograde Step
"In the context of Hong Kong where social security provisions are
badly lacking, it is a retrograde step to withdraw this relief which has been
made available since 1947.
"Even in countries with comprehensive social security arrangements,
tax relief for life insurance is available."
He disagreed with the Financial Secretary that road congestion could
be solved by increasing three to four-fold the cost of becoming a notorist,
However, he supported this idea as a practical means to avert the tide
of aspirant motorists "who are flooding the Transport Department."
The revenue increase of $38 million in 1973-74, resulting from making
it more expensive to become a licensed driver, would be a "handsome amount,"
Mr. Szeto said.
He hoped that it would be used to "speed up the construction of multi-
storey carparks and automatic vehicles inspection centres,"
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