XN000022-1976-04-07 — Page 13

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Wednesday, April 7, 1976

Turning to the policy of subsidies from public funds for those who

could not afford to pay for services for which charges had been raised,

Mr. Haddon-Cave said the suggestion that a large proportion of the population

would have to be means tested would not prove feasible.

Such a scheme, he said, would be expensive to operate and open to

considerable malpractice.

"It is our low tax structure that requires the government to charge

for all services rendered on a cost-related basis unless there is a policy

reason for not charging or charging less than full costs," he said.

"We combine this charging system with remission schemes for those

who cannot afford to pay," he said. "But our low tax structure also dictates

that remission schemes must be inexpensive to operate."

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