CONFIDENTIAL
2.
speech and in its footnotes in considerable detail, and for the most part not only for '77/78 but up to '81.
4.
11
With regard to (b), para. 91 of the speech also stated that the budget's policy was "to ensure that revenue is raised as equitably as possible as between particular classes and groups of taxpayers or potential taxpayers
(This was a reference to Lord Goronwy Roberts' 'expectation' (b)), and also that it was to minimise any adverse effects of public expenditure and of the fiscal system on the internal cost/price structure of the economy and private investment decisions so that the growth rate of the domestic product is not constrained or business damaged". I should have thought that these three points taken together give as clear an acknowledgement as could be wished that the budget is an instrument not only of economic but also of social policy and fiscal equity.
5.
You
With regard to (c), as I have already pointed out, within the body of the speech and its footnotes programme projections were covered in detail, and of course they are also presented in a more readily understandable form in the Appendices to the Estimates themselves. will appreciate that the Budget speech must be read in conjunction with the Estimates it is designed to introduce.
6.
above
Paragraphs 2-5 lead me to wonder if the so much of substance but could be that although all
point you were making was not
of presentation? Your point
the material you have in mind was in the speech or accompanying documents it was not presented in a popular or selective style so that it would be apparent to the comparatively casual reader. If so, I have some sympathy. But you should know that there are strong counter-arguments. Both for the press of Hong Kong and the Legislative Council, and for the people who affect employment levels by investment decisions, this closely reasoned style carries much more conviction than the more normal and popular approach. It lets anyone know who wishes to study it exactly why anything is being or is not being done, and provides a precise indication of what the financial
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