CO129-558-3 Levy on Salaries- petition from Chinese Civil Servants 3-1-1936 - 19-12-1936 — Page 10

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Of data the Hassume that the cast of conversion adjustments in

Part 3 are not interird to go further than

momoke to meet

cost. of living

changes.

A

paid originally in sterling

(b) Generally speaking, it throws the heavier

burden on those least able to bear it (viz.

the low-paid officers).

x

The only ans

answer to these criticisms that I can see

would be that the standard of life and essential

expenses of dollar-paid officers as a whole,are so

much lower than those of sterling-paid officers that

a heavier levy in proportion to their salaries is

But if as required to produce an equal sacrifice.

should be, and as we must presune is, the case

standards of living are taken into account in fixing

basic salaries, this argument has little force, since

the differences in standards of life between sterling-

paid and dollar-paid officers are already reflected

in basic salaries, before the levy is applied.

This aspect of the matter is not peculiar

to Hong Kong; in all colonies where levies have been

imposed there are locally-recruited officers as well

as officers recruited from abroad, but in no other

colony has it ever been suggested that the former

should be placed on a separate and higher scale of

levy. The only peculiar feature in Hong Kong is

that some officers are originally paid in one currency

and some in another, but that in itself is no argument

for differentiation in the burden of the levy.

The conclusion is that the Hong Kong

proposals invite criticism on the ground that they

are unjust to the dollar-paid officers; that criticism

is in my judgment a valid one and I think the proposals

will

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