01 perspective
Written by: Comment Editor
2020-02-23 10:00
Last updated: 2020-02-23 10:00At the time of fighting the epidemic, the society expects the government to send timely rain to relieve the urgent needs of citizens, employees and enterprises. The Citizen Party's budget proposal also requested the entire people to send money for one person, 10,000 yuan, plus unemployment, salary reduction allowances and tax relief.
Hong Kong needs dew thirst for a while, but if society is to be strong again, political parties must help resolve deep-seated contradictions, start industrial transformation, and promote economic equity.
From the storm of amendments to new pneumonia, wage cuts, unpaid leave, layoffs, and frozen business for merchants, food and daily necessities are becoming more expensive, and the family economy is becoming increasingly tight. The Citizen Party's short-term bail-out proposals, such as a "universal subsidy" of 10,000 yuan, and government property to take the lead in halving rents, are also reasonable. If the government collects all of them and then considers the relief measures introduced in the past few months, although the rescue market has spent 100 billion yuan, the government reserve was still 1.12 trillion yuan at the end of last year, and the finances are still solid.
There are many suggestions for progress
In addition to the relief measures, the Citizens Party, as a party with a strong middle-class elite, also contains many proposals for progress in its budget proposal. It can be seen that the poor and uneven society and the economic injustice have become ill and everyone sees it. . For example, in terms of taxation, the Citizen Party supports the levy of asset value-added tax, progressive vacancy taxes, and the introduction of progressive rates, all of which can promote justice for distribution; in terms of poverty alleviation benefits, the provision of universal retirement protection and additional care service spending, and the government's use of social security Role; In terms of land and housing, urging the government to complete the goals of the Long Term Housing Strategy and resume land auctions can also correct the already distorted market.
However, the progress of the Citizens' Party's initiative is not entirely pertinent. For example, asset value-added tax is only referred to as "research levy", and it also refers to "for non-residents". There is no clear statement on whether the local residents who have become rich through property speculation should also contribute to society with taxes. In education, for example, the Citizens Party proposes to exempt post-secondary students from borrowing interest and increase funding for bachelor's degrees. However, it is well known that investing in education is an investment in the future. It will increase the recurrent government expenditure by about 2 billion yuan to waive the tuition fees for the eight major universities. And stimulate economic structural innovation. Does our party dare to think bigger and farther?
Hong Kong needs industrial reform
More importantly, the Citizen Party seems to be lacking in terms of the overall economic structural transformation. It proposed reforming the legal system to promote the sharing economy, assist operators in setting up 5G base stations, and set up short-film development funds, etc. It was a piecemeal process, and the overall idea was lacking. Facing the severe disparity between the rich and the poor, the society being dominated by the real estate consortium, and the industry being hollow, Hong Kong urgently needs the transformation of its industrial structure, with the emphasis on the development of innovation and technology industries. In recent years, Hong Kong enterprises have been seriously lagging behind in innovation and development. The government has failed to provide a reasonable investment environment for companies interested in scientific research, the Internet and other fields, which has led to long-term economic transformation and industrial upgrading in Hong Kong. However, the I & T section of his proposal is only as good as one another, and lacks the direction of industrial development and talent training. Regarding the economic transformation, it only has the general route of silver hair economy and green economy, and lacks careful planning.
In fact, the Citizens Party is absolutely capable of planning long-term strategies. As early as 2009, the party issued a "Green New Economy" action program, covering carbon emissions suppression, increasing renewable energy, green buildings, building comprehensive waste treatment facilities, establishing new towns in the New Territories, and clearing brownfields. At that time, the government budgeted 35.8 billion yuan to create 87,300 jobs. Some people may think that the green program is high and low, but many surveys have pointed out that environmental quality is the main condition for people to choose a city to live in. It must be pointed out that the Citizens Party has infiltrated the environmental protection policy into this year's and previous budget proposals. Unfortunately, it has not made it the mainstay and persuaded the government to adopt it. Since political parties can show their party vision in those years, I believe they can do it today.
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