The new "Budget" will be released next month, and the three main sections of the Legislative Council - the Democratic Alliance for Betterment of Hong Kong, the Democratic Federation of Economics and the "G19" all propose to distribute consumer coupons.
However, Jiang Yuhuan, a member of the Legislative Council of the Election Committee, questioned that distributing consumer coupons may not be the most beneficial to Hong Kong: "If distributing money is useful, why do many century-old shops have to close? Do you know that there are also two restaurants popping up in various districts? "
Jiang Yuhuan said that the government spent nearly 100 billion yuan in public funds in distributing consumer vouchers in the past two years. Now the government is in a state of deficit, and there will be many large-scale infrastructure projects in the future. In addition, the global economy will become more unstable in the future. The government should accumulate rice to prevent hunger. Ying distributing consumer vouchers indiscriminately: "The Housing Authority has said that there is not enough money to start public housing. Should we continue to distribute money to all people?"
The three major sectors of the parliament support the distribution of consumer coupons Jiang: it is better to focus on helping the needy
Jiang Yuhuan said that heroes from all walks of life proposed to distribute another 10,000 yuan consumption vouchers first. This approach seemed very attractive and inevitable. "Everyone wants consumption vouchers." Has it become a designated action?" She said that social resources are limited, so instead of distributing consumer vouchers to everyone, it is better to concentrate resources to help those in need, including grassroots citizens, the tourism industry, the catering industry, and the unemployed.
Deficit, not enough money to afford public housing, and still disbursements for various infrastructure projects?
Jiang Yuhuan said that if the government does not have a deficit, it is understandable to distribute consumer vouchers to stimulate the economy, but now that the government is facing a fiscal deficit, if the distribution of 10,000 yuan of consumer vouchers means that 60 billion public funds will be used, and the epidemic is over: Still using the old set, how about everyone sending out 10,000?"
She pointed out that one or two years after many economies return to normal, the economic situation has not yet returned to the level before the epidemic. Hong Kong may not be able to increase income in a short period of time, and the government has a number of large-scale infrastructure plans, and the simple public housing alone has been used More than 30 billion yuan, I think the government should carefully consider whether to issue consumer coupons.
In 2008, the first distribution of money was criticized for being short-sighted and destroying financial management philosophy
"Sugar distribution" has become the norm in the "Budget". This practice originated from the era of Donald Tsang, when the government's financial situation turned from loss to profit. In the 2007-08 "Budget", it proposed refund of salaries tax and relief of rates. "Pie sugar" measures.
The 2008-09 Budget proposes to inject $6,000 into the MPF accounts of citizens whose average monthly income is less than $10,000.
Later, in the 2011-12 Budget, the then Financial Secretary John Tsang followed the example of Donald Tsang and injected $6,000 into citizens' MPF accounts without setting a monthly income limit of $10,000. In order to directly distribute money of 6,000 yuan to each Hong Kong permanent resident over the age of 18, and exempt salaries tax and personal assessment tax by 75%, the upper limit is 6,000 yuan.
At that time, some pan-democrat lawmakers criticized the short-sighted approach of distributing money, bankrupting the government's financial management philosophy, and failing to use the surplus to promote long-term development, including the establishment of universal withdrawal of insurance.
The government sent money six times, four of which were under Chen Maobo's tenure
The current Financial Secretary, Chen Maobo, announced in 2018 that through the "Caring and Sharing Plan", 4,000 yuan will be distributed to those who have not benefited from the 2018/19 budget. Citizens who have a tax rebate of less than 4,000 yuan will also receive the difference. The amount involved is about 11 billion yuan.
However, the administrative cost of this arrangement amounted to 311 million yuan, and only paper applications were accepted, which attracted social criticism for the high cost and complicated application procedures.
Affected by anti-amendment demonstrations and the epidemic, Chen Maobo will distribute 10,000 yuan to all people in 2020. Drawing on the experience of the last distribution, he has not set multiple application conditions, as long as he is a Hong Kong permanent resident aged 18 or over.
In 2021, the Liberal Party, the Federation of Trade Unions, and the Economic and Democratic Federation all proposed the distribution of "electronic consumption coupons". Chen Maobo said that the society had differences on the distribution of money, and finally decided to distribute 5,000 electronic consumption coupons per person, which was the first time in history.
Last year, the economy was hit hard by the fifth wave of the epidemic. In addition to the opposition of the New Democratic Party, several established political parties proposed to continue to distribute consumer vouchers.
Budget｜The Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong advocates sending 1,000 yuan of consumption coupons to overnight tourists. Budget proposal of 5,000 yuan of consumption vouchers for Hong Kong residents. ｜Xie Weiquan hopes to continue distributing consumer vouchers and promoting progressive mortgage new home housing budget︱Luo Bingham proposes distributing consumption vouchers of at least $3,000 and increasing the tax rebate to $25,000. Distribute consumer coupons to stimulate the economy