TNAG-0220-FCO40-256-Constitutional-development-of-Hong-Kong-1970 — Page 18

145

Parats

595

·NRICH

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EXTRACT FROM

HOUSE OF LORDS DEBATES

Negative Income Tax and [15 JULY 1970]

an efficient means of redistributing 'wealth.]

EARL JELLICOE: My Lords, Her Majesty's Government propose to make a real effort to try to devise a practical form of negative income tax which would pay benefits related to family need.

LORD FRASER OF LONSDALE: My Lords, while thanking the noble Earl for that relatively satisfactory Answer, may I ask him whether Her Majesty's Gov- ernment are impressed with this psycho- logical advantage; namely, that hundreds of thousands of citizens are used to hav- ing their income tested by Government, and that the rich can be taxed and the poor can be helped without discrimination if a positive and a negative income tax were adopted?

EARL JELLICOE: My Lords, while thanking my noble friend for his rela- tively kindly supplementary question, I should like to reply that this of course is one of the advantages in one of the many possible variants of negative income tax. But, of course, there are great prac- tical difficulties in the way of such a sys- tem, and the whole matter will need very careful examination.

•

LORD BYERS: My Lords, is not nega- tive income tax what Mr. Macleod promised during the Election?

EARL JELLICOE: My Lords, the noble Lord is not in fact quite right. What Mr. Macleod said was that there was great promise in this system and that this was a matter which would be investigated by the incoming Administration. That is precisely what the Administration, having come in, propose to do.

LORD BYERS: My Lords, this is quite different from those sweeping tax reductions.

2.57 p.m.

HONG KONG

:

LORD SORENSEN: My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.

[The Question was as follows:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the condition of Hong Kong continues to be tranquil; what further progress has been made in providing

H.L. 3D 19

6.

123/7 No

Vol 311 N° 9 Wednesday 15/7/7.0

596

Wealth Redistribution

accommodation for Chinese families; whether this more than keeps pace with the increase in population; and whether further constitutional improve- ments are contemplated.]

THE PARLIAMENTARY UNDER- SECRETARY OF STATE, FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH OFFICE (THE Marquess of LOTHIAN): My Lords, the answer to the first part of the Question is, Yes. On the housing situation, since March, 1969, accommodation for approxi- mately 98,000 people has been provided by Government and Government-aided agencies: and at the end of March, 1970, a total of nearly 1,700,000 people (more than one-third of the total population of the Colony) were housed in accommo- dation provided by Government and Government-aided agencies in resettle- ment estates and low-cost housing estates. The rate at which accommodation is being provided is keeping pace with the growth in the population.

As regards constitutional improvements, in the sphere of local government the functions and status of the urban council are under review and the Governor's recommendations are now awaited.

LORD SORENSEN: My Lords, while thanking the noble Marquess for that reply, may I ask him whether any con- siderable infiltration of Chinese over the border has been taking place in the last few months? Secondly, while thoroughly appreciating the remarkable effort on the part of the Hong Kong Government to provide accommodation, is it enough merely to say that it has kept pace with the growth in the population? Is it not really necessary to increase it? Finally, may I ask the noble Marquess whether he can say if, in the contemplated improvement or reform of the Govern- ment and the Constitution, a more demo- cratic element will be then embodied?

THE MARQUESS OF LOTHIAN: My Lords, the noble Lord's first supple- mentary question I think had regard to infiltration over the border. As I think the noble Lord is aware, the immigra- tion figure allowed officially is 50 per- sons a day. We know that there is a considerable illegal immigration from one source or another, but I am afraid I am not in a position to give the noble Lord precise figures. His third point, I