Michael Tien Calls For Another Handout And More Tax

Roundtable lawmaker Michael Tien has called on the Chief Executive Carrie Lam to hand out HK$10,000 to all Hong Kong residents again in her policy address next month, to help people get through the downturn caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and to boost the economy.

Speaking after raising the matter with Lam at a meeting, Tien said the third wave of Covid-19 had forced many people out of work and affected a lot of businesses. The lawmaker also urged the government to introduce new taxes - such as on capital gains, luxuries and dividends - to bridge the gap between rich and poor and to replenish its reserves.

"I say this is the best time now to really start this discussion about introducing new taxes into our current very narrow structure," Tien said.

"Simply because we have depleted our reserve by almost half in the last six months and God knows how much more the government needs to dole out before everything returns to normal."

Tien said the only way to build up the government's reserves was to introduce new taxes and "not to pray that our land sales will come back," referring to one of the government's main sources of revenue.