TNAG-1728-FCO40-2441-Minutes-and-Hansards-of-the-Legislative-Council-of-Hong-Kong-1988 — Page 149

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to perform

This is because ultimately affect Hong Kong's economic well being. This basically Hong Kong does not have a labour force large enough the work required to keep the territory going. Therefore, in spite of

all the automation and increasing efficiency and as the luke warm✩

measures encouraged and adopted by the Government, the problem still exists. Be it an economic boom or a recession, the problem of labour shortage is only a matter of degrees and will continue to haunt Hong Kong. It is now time for the Government to tackle the problem by taking the

It

bull by its horns.

Bolder

Under this arrangement we can Insur.e

that there

The

Further steps have to be taken to find practical solutions, such as importing workers from neighbouring countries on

contractural basis. will always be a sufficient supply of labour for our industries. contract arrangement can make sure that the foreign workers concerned will not be staying in Hong Kong when demand for them has dropped.

is being This method, which has been practised in Singapore and other countries,

is now at an early stage to has proved to be a success, and Macau implement a similar arrangement to import workers from China.

If

Hong Kong is to maintain its economic growth, it should open itself and learn from other places lessons which have been proven effective.

I agree

The probable introduction of sales tax is noted with interest. that there is a need to develop a broadly based tax system and to spread It is because compared the tax burden more widely across the community.

with direct taxation, revenues from indirect taxation are less prone to economic fluctuations. However, caution must be exercised in determining which kinds of commodities are to be taxed. At the moment, only commodities like tobacco, liquor, cosmetics and petroleum products are taxed. We must avoid including basic necessities if a large scale sales tax was adopted as it would affect the whole population, leading to rising costs and fuelling inflation.

The change of Housing Authority into a statutory body, taking over the responsibility for the Home Ownership Scheme, Home Purchase Loan Scheme, c.

This will le. Temporary Housing Areas and Cottage Areas is a welcome move.

enable it to have a greater degree of flexibility and independence in

operation.

The Authority also will have a freer hand in cooperating