March 23, 2006

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Hong Kong's Secretary for Constiutional Affairs, Stephen Lam, has warned the sky is falling in for the Big Lychee? The successful, vibrant way of lifeand high living standards enjoyed by Hong Kongers is under threat....by universal suffrage:

Lam said it is vital for Hong Kong to focus on development as a capitalist society while gradually moving ahead with its ultimate aim of universal suffrage as stated in the Basic Law...the government raised concerns that the current low-tax system with a narrow tax base would not be able to cope with growing public aspirations for more welfare spending...

"There are also views that in other economies with full democracy, governments provide a relatively high level of welfare protection, but at the same time they are also capitalist societies," the paper said.

It's this kind of brilliant reasoning that proves just how good Hong Kong's well paid civil servants are. Work through the logic here: if people can vote, they might vote for those who want to increase welfare spending on the poor and that would be a bad thing because the city has a narrow tax base. This coming from the government that houses half the city and is pushing a GST to expand that narrow tax base. I'm sure it has escaped the report's attention that the United States is both a democracy and far from a welfare state. That said, the American revolution against the British was sparked by a revolt over taxes, so perhaps Mr Lam is continuing that fine tradition of linking tax policy with representation.

What's the big deal if the majority of the population decide they prefer to expand government spending and increased welfare over current arrangements? Plenty of European countries have welfare states while maintaining high standards of living. There will be other political parties standing for the status quo, and in a true democracy people will decide which they prefer. The many living in their 500 square feet dog boxes may decide a bit of welfare is just the thing. But that may mean Hong Kong changes from being the low tax, big business and cartel friendly bureaucracy it is today. And that's the real problem with moving from a benevolent dictatorship of the elite to universal suffrage - the elite loses out.

posted by Simon on 03.23.06 at 09:07 AM in the Hong Kong democracy/politics category.




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Comments:

Simon, very well said. I hope that there’ll be many HK people who share your view.

I don’t know Stephen Lam very well. Just by reading what he said, I would say that he was not only trying to protect the interest of the elite group that he represents, he was also trying to score some brownie points with the boss in charge at Beijing. My evidence? – he is learning to parrot. By far, parroting seems to be the most prominent rhetoric feature of HK Chief Executives.

posted by: Fat Cat on 03.23.06 at 11:37 AM [permalink]

"and is pushing a GST to expand that narrow tax base" - ah yes, but to be offset with cuts in corporation profits tax to make it revenue neutral! Only in Hong Kong could you take from the poor to relieve that onerous tax burden that the tycoons are suffering from... I'm looking forward to how they try and sell the GST to the public with this sort of nonsense.

posted by: Duncan on 03.23.06 at 06:52 PM [permalink]

"Plenty of European countries have welfare states while maintaining high standards of living. There will be other political parties standing for the status quo, and in a true democracy people will decide which they prefer."

"Plenty"? I see you didn't bother to name any of them. There aren't many European welfare states that are going forwards rather than backwards, and most of their welfare departments are bankrupt, spending more than they receive and looking at a demographic time bomb when the baby boomers retire.

Lam is essentially correct. Democracy brings socialism everywhere it has been in place for a significant amount of time - even the United States.

The only modern countries that have avoided it were all dictatorships - Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan and smaller principalities like Monaco and Vanuatu.

posted by: Yobbo on 03.26.06 at 06:52 AM [permalink]




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