Gov't Expected To Announce HK$4,000 Handout

The government is set to announce plans to give HK$4,000 handouts to more than a million people who were left out of the relief measures offered in its budget announced earlier this month, sources say.

The payments will be made through the Community Care Fund and an official announcement is expected as early as Friday afternoon.

The sources say those eligible for the handout have to be aged 18 or above, and who do not qualify for the tax rebates, rate waivers, or the higher old age and disability allowances announced by Financial Secretary Paul Chan.

Flush with a record HK138 billion surplus for the 2017-18 fiscal year, Chan was roundly criticised for leaving out large segments of the population in the HK52.4 billion in giveaways he pledged to give – the bulk of which was allocated for massive tax breaks and rates waivers.

Both pro-democracy and pro-government legislators had demanded cash handouts for so-called “N-nothings” – who don’t benefit from various government welfare or housing programmes, but don’t earn enough to buy a home or benefit from tax breaks. Some lawmakers had threatened to vote down Chan's budget in the legislature.

One of them, New People's Party chairwoman Regina Ip, said she feels such a handout should satisfy most of the budget's critics.

"This will benefit large numbers of permanent residents who are not taxpayers, including housewives, retired persons, students and other low-income people", Ip said. "There were a lot of complaints about the uneven distribution of economic benefits and I believe that handing out four thousand dollars to qualified permanent residents will go a long way towards reducing the dissatisfaction. It should be welcome by large numbers of people."

But Democratic Party chairman Wu Chi-wai said he would like to see the handout increased to HK$7,000 – the average amount he says people will get under the budget's original relief measures.

Civic Party leader Alvin Yeung was likewise unimpressed, saying the government’s u-turn over cash handouts highlights the flaws in its budget consultation process.

“What happened during the consultation period? “ he questioned. “What happened when all these different political parties gave their good advice to the [Financial Secretary] and still in the most recent budget, the secretary simply [forgot about] a lot of Hong Kong people and it took him another month to work out a solution.”

For weeks, Chan had stood firm and refused to accept demands for universal cash handouts, saying these aren't compatible with this administration’s fiscal policy.

But the Chief Executive Carrie Lam all but confirmed that targeted handouts were on the cards when she admitted on Wednesday that Chan’s budget had failed to cover all sections of society, and the government wants more people to benefit from the relief measures.

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