1848
HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL - 13 July 1988
is quite simple. Hong Kong does not have any natural resources and we must have a stable Budget as well as a sound financial system. As to whether a balanced Budget provision should be stipulated into the Basic Law, according to my own references, among the 50 states in the United States, there is provision for a balanced Budget in the constitution of 49 states and 36 states have already passed constitutional convention petitions to amend the US Constitution to require balanced Budgets. Apart from this, Professor Alvin ROBUSHKA, during a recent interview with a newspaper in Hong Kong, felt that the low tax policy stipulation as well as the balanced Budget provision in Chapter V, are very good articles and actually can be adopted in the constitu- tion for the USA. Such kind of comments deserve our study and consideration.
The second point concerns article 107. The Hong Kong SAR shall continue to practise a low tax policy; the word 'continue' means that we can make reference to the changes in the standard tax rate in Hong Kong.
Thirdly, according to my memory, the standard tax rate in 1948 was 12 per cent; in recent years, the highest was 17.5 per cent, plus one per cent of interim surcharge and the highest we have ever attained is 18.5 per cent. A low tax policy will be a most important factor to encourage investment. Even though this is not the most important provision, if there is not such a provision, it will affect the confidence of investors.
Sir, with these remarks I support the motion.
4.30 pm
HIS EXCELLENCy the President: Members might take a short break at this point.
4.51 pm
His Excellency the President: Council will resume.
MR. CHEUNG (in Cantonese): Sir, it has been two months since the release of the draft Basic Law for solicitation of opinions. People of all strata of our society have shown concern. However, when it comes to expressing views on its contents, response has not been regularly forthcoming. The relevant bodies have been unremitting in their efforts to promote the draft and have resorted to different means of promotion. However, it is a real pity that they all concentrate their efforts on presenting and explaining the draft and have not done enough to solicit views from the public. Through the mass media, many usful views have been expressed. However, most concentrate on the technical aspects and little do we know about the views of the ordinary people. Looking back on the period when the development of representative government was discussed, there was an adequate collection of public opinions from all walks of life, both quantitatively and qualitatively By comparison, it seems more has to be done
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.