CO129-533-13 Salaries- conversion rate of sterling 30-1-1931 - 21-1-1932 — Page 340

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matter of routine when occasion arises, and collection

will be facilitated if, as the following scheme shows,

it were applied to individuals only while firms were

made responsible for deduction before dividends were

paid, as is the case at Home. Provision would, of course,

be made for reclaim of overpayments.

It is an essential part of this scheme, at least

in the initial stages of its application, that no cognisance

be taken of income derived from outside the Colony. It is

suggested that Hong Kong rates be kept low, somewhat on

the lines laid down in the attached sheet. Collection

in the case of payments to Government employees and Govern-

-ment contractors, dividends and interest paid by regis-

-tered companies, should be made by the payer at the

time of payment of salary, etc., as the case may be;

collection in the case of payments made to individuals

and unregistered firms amounting in one day to more than

$250 should be made by means of a special receipt stamp,

leaving it to the individual or individuals concerned

to claim reduction or exemption at a later date.

Should still further sources of revenue be desired

I shall only mention the following: A landing tax of .10c

per head on all persons entering Hong Kong by any train

or passenger steamer, to be collected as a surcharge on

passenger tickets, with possibly a reduction for regular

traders; a tax on all places where firecrackers, joss-

papers, or other combustible materials are stored or exposed

for sale; a surtax (oy way of increased income tax, or in-

-creased assessment) on absentee owners of house property;

a revision of the tax on motor cars so as to make it

more nearly an ad valorem tax; and a revision of our

liquor and tobacco taxes in inverse ratio to the decline

in value of the dollar since the taxes were imposed.(At

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