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Transcript of remarks by FS on GST
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Following is the transcript
(English portion) of the Financial Secretary, Mr Henry Tang, speaking
to the media after addressing the Business and Professionals Federation
of Hong Kong's seminar, "Why Hong Kong should broaden its tax
base", today (September 8):
Reporter: Mr Tang, you've made an
appeal for the public to have a rational discussion on GST. Do you
think that at this moment people are getting too caught up in the
details and that maybe they're misinformed or uninformed about the
benefits of a GST? And does that frustrate you personally?
FS: That's why I posed the three questions
and I said the three questions should be considered together and
people who are supportive of it or people who are going to discuss
it, should have a thorough discussion and consideration of all three
questions together. So I believe some of the opposition today is
based on question number three, which is, 'If GST is the best way
to broaden our tax base in order to deal with some of the longer-term
problems, then whether there should be exemptions or whether some
lower-income families should have more compensation?' These are
some of the issues that we should be considering and I'm happy to
discuss them.
Reporter: .. you don't have a long-term
plan, like you're waiting for this update to go through before you
have a long-term plan.........
FS: The basis of a consultation is
that the Government should not make up its mind and launch a consultation
just for selling a policy. I think the general policy should be
that Government proposes this consultation because we envisage that
there are many long-term issues that we need to deal with and this
is a time, - a suitable and appropriate time - to consider and discuss
some of these wide-ranging and very serious issues that will put
pressure on our public finances in the future.
(Please also refer to the Chinese
portion of the transcript)
Ends/Friday, September 8, 2006
Issued at HKT 15:54
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