XN000022-1996-01-24 — Page 38

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Conclusion

Mr President, Hong Kong may be going through some adjustment in its economic development. But these are not the worse of times. Inflation, for example, is on the decline. We all working to improve the situation. We do have to strike a balance when considering fee and tariff revisions. It would in my view be irresponsible to endorse all proposals for revisions to fees and tariffs without reference to wider social or economic considerations. But it would also be irresponsible to freeze all fees and tariffs without considering their merits. To do so would be to trade the future for the present. As leaders with vision, I urge Members to look beyond the immediate present to the future, and to the future well-being of Hong Kong.

End

User-pays principle reiterated

The Secretary for the Treasury, Mr K C Kwong, today (Wednesday) told the Legislative Council that the Government does not apply the guiding principle of "user pays/full cost recovery" blindly.

In certain carefully selected areas such as education and health care where there was compelling social justification, the Government deliberately subsidised very heavily, he said.

"Outside those areas, help is given only to the individuals and families in need. Not as a blanket across the board subsidy to all users irrespective of need," he said.

"It would not be sensible to design a system whereby ordinary taxpayers subsidised the comfortably off," he noted.

Speaking at a motion debate on "fees and charges", Mr Kwong said: "If we are able to continue to make the broad assumption that routine fee adjustments will go through, then we will be better able to focus our attention, and resources, on meeting the community's expectations."

End