18
108
solutions to which I sketched out in paragraphs 105
of the budget speech. These ideas have been developed further by the Finance Branch and are now being examined by the Secretariat and departments. And over and above this
we have to determine the general economic implications of spending at an annual rate of $2,200 million on capital works. As my honourable Friends Mr. Q.W. Lee and Mr. Williams
warned us there could be internal inflationary consequences
of an over-ambitious capital works programme.
46.
(b) Taxation of road users
(1) Introduction
Judging from the content and tone of some of the comments made on the second major theme in this debate, namely, my proposals to raise additional revenue from road users, I sense that honourable Members are not exactly happy with them. But I am not entirely clear precisely why: some,
like my honourable Friend Mr. P.C. Woo, say they are "premature in view of the imminent publication of the Green Paper on transport" and he argued, quite illogically, that "decisions should first be taken on the policy to be adopted in relation to various types of public transport".
He was generally supported in this view by my honourable Friends Mr. Szeto Wai, Dr. S.Y. Chung, Mr. Williams and Mr. Li
Fook-wo.
My honourable Friend Mr. Szeto Wai with his penchant for the colourful, if not very flattering, phrase has accused me of being unfair and ungallant". He also accused me of seeking "to increase revenue under the pretext of policy objectives". I flatly deny this.
Others,
namely, my honourable Friends Mr. Hilton Cheong-Leen, Mr. James Wu and Mr. Williams have objected to certain aspects of the proposals themselves, whilst my honourable Friend Mr. Szeto Wai has added vehemence to his attack on the introduction of these proposals at this time by implying that the totality of the proposals is too much for what he describes as "the long suffering motorists" to bear.
47.
Obviously, something has gone wrong with my presentation. This is a great pity for my proposals have attracted far more attention than they deserve, particularly
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