{"id":1141,"date":"2013-03-07T19:07:30","date_gmt":"2013-03-07T12:29:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/shehuizhuyizhe.com\/?p=1141"},"modified":"2013-08-23T08:48:26","modified_gmt":"2013-08-23T08:48:26","slug":"hong-kong-another-scrooge-budget","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinaworker.info\/en\/2013\/03\/07\/1141\/","title":{"rendered":"Hong Kong: Another \u2018Scrooge\u2019 budget"},"content":{"rendered":"

Calls for increased welfare spending and affordable housing are deafening, but this government only listens to the rich<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dikang, Socialist Action<\/p>\n

John Tsang\u2019s sixth budget presented at the end of February resembles all the others \u2013 stingy beyond belief. Apart from some familiar \u2018sweeteners\u2019 \u2013 electricity and rent rebates \u2013 which are small change for a government sitting on a record pile of cash, this budget again turned its back on grass roots workers, youth, the poor, and the growing numbers in need of housing. Coming just a week before International Women\u2019s Day (8 March) women have more reason than any other group to be outraged at this budget.<\/p>\n

Chen Shao-chong, a female construction worker earning HK$10,000 a month to support a sick husband and two sons, spoke for the vast majority of people when she told the South China Morning Post: “I’m disappointed\u2026 I think this year is the same as the last, only with even less money being given out”.<\/p>\n

This time the government set aside HK$33 billion for one-off ‘relief measures’ \u2013 less than half the HK$80 billion of last year’s budget. Again and again Tsang has used one-off measures of this kind to avoid committing the government to a higher welfare ‘floor’. The economic crisis, with Hong Kong’s GDP growing a snailish 1.4 percent in 2012, is being used to scale back even on these ‘sweeteners’. Likewise, on the key issue of pensions, the government has set itself against any commitment to a universal pension system despite this being the most important single measure for reducing poverty in the city. According to the Sunday Morning Post (13 January) the government opposes this on the grounds that “Western countries offering state pensions have run up crippling debts.”<\/p>\n

The suddenly \u201cmiddle class\u201d finance secretary revealed a HK$65 billion budget surplus for the coming fiscal year. It is worth looking at this figure again\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2022 HK$65 billion is almost one-and-a-half times what the government spends on hospitals and healthcare for a whole year.\u2022 This is the 9th straight year the government has run a surplus. Yet they always forecast a deficit, as they did this year. Is this terrible math, or is it an attempt to hoodwink the people of Hong Kong by feigning hardship?<\/p>\n

\u2022 After years of accumulated budget surpluses the government has reserves of HK$734 billion \u2013 equal to 23 months\u2019 total government spending.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Outside of the oil-states of the Persian Gulf, no government in the world has such riches. Yet true his \u2018Scrooge\u2019 image, Tsang has again refused to dip into these accumulated reserves to bolster badly stretched public services or ease the housing crisis.<\/p>\n

If you go to almost any street and ask people what they want from the budget, they will likely answer as follows:<\/p>\n