Politics
Written by: Lin Jian
2020-02-17 07:00
Last updated: 2020-02-17 07:00The Financial Secretary, Chen Maobo, will issue a new budget next Wednesday. When Chen Maobo responded to the issue of money distribution in recent months, he repeatedly stated that there would be a deficit this year, and the family members would "eat food", implying that it is not feasible for the people to send money. However, under the overwhelming pneumonia epidemic in Wuhan and the local economy being severely hit, the call for all the people to send money to relieve the people's plight has been increasing. Even the major political parties such as the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions have suggested that the wealthy should send to everyone Ten thousand yuan.
"Hong Kong 01" reporter interviewed Hong Kong's first person in politics who proposed to send money to the whole people-former member of the ADPL and former Legislative Councillor Luo Xianguo. As an economist, Luo Xiangguo said that at that time, based on the principle of fairness, he suggested that the government send money to the whole people, mainly to stimulate discussion and asked the government to help the lower classes more. However, he expressed his reservations about "distributing money between the rich and the poor" itself, thinking that it is "lazy man's law." Some people can even get double benefits because it is unfair, so he prefers targeted measures.
As for how to do it in detail, Luo Xiangguo believes that Chen Maobo sent 4,000 yuan to the public or made up the difference two years ago in the form of "leakage and recollection". Although the administration has caused confusion, the idea ultimately makes sense. He suggested that the government institutionalize the "distribution of money" and based on the previous data, find out the citizens who are missing and in need in each budget and pay them subsidies as needed.
Regarding this year's budget expectations, he believes that retaining the existing sugar distribution measures is sufficient.
▼ The government's financial situation is tight? Click the picture to see how the rich man interpreted the picture ▼
25 years of premise sentiment is widely mocked
Luo Xianguo is currently the director of the Economic Policy Research Program at the Economic Research Center of the Asia-Pacific Research Institute of CUHK. The general understanding of him is that he is an expert in aviation policy. However, he is also regarded as the "father of money" in Hong Kong in public finance. . On the eve of the reunification, economic development slowed down and unemployment rose. At the Legislative Council meeting on November 8, 1995, then Member Tian Beijun proposed a "tax concession" motion, urging the government to consider immediately reducing corporate profits tax and salaries. Taxes, promote economic development and create more employment opportunities.
At that time, the ADPL thought that the tax reduction was only focused on helping the middle and upper classes, and could not help the general public who did not pay taxes or paid very little tax. Luo Xiangguo proposed an amendment at the meeting, recommending that the government "return part of the accumulated fiscal surplus to the Hong Kong citizens fairly to encourage consumption", arguing that the government would spend 20 billion yuan to about 4 million citizens over the age of 18 in the form of consumer vouchers. People pay 5,000 yuan. At first glance, the proposals put forward by political parties are exactly the same today as 25 years later.
However, the proposal to send money was widely ridiculed by the public at the time. Some media have criticized Luo Xiangguo as a "loser" who wants to drain the government's financial reserves. Democrats, pro-China activists, and businessmen all criticize the proposal of sending money severely. Tang Yingnian, who later became the rich man, even more ironically said: "I am very Glad that Mr. Luo (Cheung Kwok) did not withdraw his amendment because I have a strong curiosity and would like to see how many votes he can win in addition to the 4 votes of the ADPL today. " 5 votes in favor and 41 votes against.
Time has changed, and sending money in Hong Kong and Macao in recent years has become an important measure for the government to heal people's grievances: Macau has been sending money every year since 2008, and the amount has continued to increase; former Hong Kong rich man Zeng Junhua proposed a capital injection in 2011 Gold, which caused a rebound in public opinion, finally announced that the entire people would pay 6,000 yuan; in March of the previous year, Chen Maobo announced that he would send 4,000 yuan to "make up for" in the Budget.
Further reading: [Budget 2019] A Brief History of Money Distribution in Hong Kong: From "The Laugh of All People" to "The Appeal of All People"
Refers to all people sending money as "double benefits" and not fair
Looking back on the past 25 years ago, Luo Xianguo mentioned that the ADPL was based on the principle of fairness and believed that the working population was more than 3 million, and only one third of the tax was paid. As a result of the tax reduction, most people could not benefit. As a spokesman for the Economic Policy of the ADPL at that time, he suggested that the government send money directly to the people. Luo Xiangguo pointed out that the main purpose at that time was to lead the society to discuss the problem of insufficient coverage of the existing relief measures, but it was always suggested that it was relatively new and the ADPL was relatively a small party. At that time, everyone's reaction was to ridicule most and did not discuss it seriously. unfortunately.
However, as to whether the current rich man should send money to the whole people, Luo Xiangguo reviewed the government's rescue measures in the past year and believes that this year's Budget retains the original sugar distribution measures, such as tax refunds of up to 20,000 yuan, rates free, public funds Rent-free, etc. is enough.
Whether or not to send money, Luo Xiang ’s country has another opinion: “In fact, it is an unfair practice to send money to the whole people.” Luo Xiangguo analyzed that sending money has always been dominated by political factors. In fact, there are so many people asking for money. It is because no matter how the government "sends sugar," some people will always be missed. However, he suggested that from another perspective, some relief measures of the Hong Kong Government are now being implemented every year, and they have almost become regular. For example, tax refunds of up to 20,000 or 30,000 yuan, rates exemption, etc. For those who have already benefited, it is equivalent to getting double shares. This is not necessarily a reasonable approach at the level of redistribution of wealth.
Rhetoric: If the whole people send money, will there be no tax refund?
"This is a dual welfare issue. You can ask those political parties that advocate money distribution. If the government really sends money to the whole people, will the original sugar rebates and rent-free measures for public housing be unnecessary? I believe they They dare not say that, because they do n’t want to offend the middle class or other beneficiaries. ”Luo Xiangguo said, the fact that the whole nation pays money without discrimination is actually the best policy. The government ’s inaction is a lazy person.“ I have money to collect, and of course I will be happy. "But you give me a few thousand dollars, which is not interesting to me. Instead, the (government) should study how to benefit those in need."
As the first person who proposed to send money, he had reservations about sending money to the whole people. The reporter was also very curious: why did he propose to send money again? Luo Xiangguo admitted that at that time, the ADPL knew the style of the then Financial Secretary Tsang Yam-kuen, and believed that even if the call for money distribution had become a climate, with the prudent financial management style of Tsang Yam-quan and the atmosphere of public finance before the return, the government would not send: "Everyone knows he won't send money, so he pays money."
Luo Xiangguo proposed an amendment at the Legislative Council meeting that day, recommending that "partially accumulated fiscal surplus be returned to Hong Kong citizens fairly." (Photo by Lu Yiming)
Recognize the institutionalization of "Chen Maobo-style money distribution" can improve administrative confusion
When it comes to "Chen Maobo-style money distribution", many Hong Kong people may evoke "painful memories." It is about Chen Maobo's launch of the “Caring and Sharing” plan the year before. The citizens who have not benefited from the budget or benefited less than 4,000 yuan will be given money or make up the difference. The working family and student financial affairs office (vocational office) is responsible for it. However, the plan was accused of complicated application conditions, chaotic arrangements, and no online system. The government also changed the issue of whether to require proof of address and postage, which caused serious administrative confusion. It was ridiculed that "all money can be sent to arouse public indignation." A public apology is required afterwards. However, Luo Xiangguo believes that the idea of sending money this time is desirable.
Luo pointed out that the "Caring and Sharing" plan eventually led to administrative confusion, which is of course the political responsibility of government officials, but in theory, it is an attempt to balance the contradiction between "do not leak anyone" and "targeted" There is a certain rationality: "Everything is done for the first time, especially for such a large-scale plan, there will be unsuccessful situations, but on this basis, do some fine-tuning and optimization, I believe that the situation will be much smoother in the future."
In terms of specific methods, Luo Xiangguo suggested that the government use the “Caring and Sharing” plan as the basis to institutionalize the distribution of money, establish a formal database, and even set up a dedicated department or group to handle: "After the last chaos, the government has mastered some basic Data, in the future, you can use a tax-like form to allow citizens to regularly update their income and economic status, as well as the benefits in the budget, to determine the amount of distribution. This (payment of money) does not have to be done annually, it may be every two, Only once every three years when necessary, but the Government must ensure that the boundaries set are reasonable so that money can flow accurately to those in need. "
As for other long-term reforms, Luo Xiangguo also proposed that, for example, the unemployment assistance should be separated and no CSSA should be used: "Now the unemployed must meet the CSSA eligibility before they can receive assistance. But all unemployed people will face short-term Economic difficulties, the government should set up a dignified support system to assist the unemployed. "
The Financial Secretary, Chen Maobo, "repaired the leaks" for the Budget the previous year, but because of the chaos in the administration, he has aroused public indignation. (Profile picture)
Criticizing the government's lack of long-term policy priority "money is not used, of course the public will want you to send it"
Regarding the distribution of money, Luo Xiangguo also mentioned another core issue: "The government has always been conservative in increasing recurrent expenditures and often dare not make bold reforms of public policies." He explained that because the government has some concerns about "structural fiscal deficits" Deep fear. Article 107 of the Basic Law also restricts the government's fiscal budget to the principle of spending within the means, and strives to balance revenue and avoid deficits. As a result, the government tends to be conservative when it comes to assessing its fiscal position. In the end, it often underestimates revenue and overestimates expenditure. Therefore, fiscal surpluses in recent years are often higher than the original estimates.
The problem with this is that the government will limit public spending because of conservative fiscal estimates: "The budget for the next year issued by the Financial Secretary to various departments will be conservative, and it will be difficult to increase recurrent expenditure in space. Can do one-time measures. "At the same time, as a large amount of accumulated surplus is withheld and not used, fiscal reserves will accumulate.
Luo Xiangguo also said: "The government's public policies in all aspects have long lacked a complete priority list, education, health care, industrial policies, etc. have not been available, at least not in public documents. When there is money in At the time of hand, the (government) did not know how to use it. For example, did education first deal with early childhood education or post-secondary education? The government did not give an accurate answer to these questions, and often hurriedly asked when the warehouse was flooded. opinion."
He believes that just because the government has the resources at hand, it does n’t know how to use it, nor can it convince the outside world that the fiscal surplus will be used by the people. The citizens see that the accumulated surplus is increasing, but they ca n’t help themselves. Of course they will be dissatisfied. Asking the government to simply send money, things are better than nothing. Luo Xiangguo believes that the government will eventually need to fundamentally reform public finance principles.
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Luo Xiangguo's Budget Sends Money $ 4000