| Helping
the Community to Ride Out the Storm
|
| 88.
In the course of
Budget consultations, Members of this Council and many citizens expressed
the hope that the Government would show concern over the community's
hardship in this time of economic difficulty.
The Chief Executive and I both agree that, the Government's
overall financial position permitting, we will provide some one-off
concessions related to people's livelihood.
|
| Reducing
Rates Payments
|
| 89.
In his Policy Address
last October, the Chief Executive decided to ease the burden on all
ratepayers by reducing the amount of rates payable in 2002. The maximum amount to be waived for each rateable tenement is
$2,000. To provide further
relief to our citizens, especially middle-income earners, I have decided
to raise the maximum amount to $5,000.
The previous concession of $2,000 reduced the load on ratepayers by
$5 billion. With an increase
in the concession to $5,000, their burden will be reduced by another $2.6
billion.
|
| Reducing
Water and Sewage Charges and Trade Effluent Surcharge
|
| 90.
I propose to waive
water and sewage charges for domestic households for one year, subject to
maximum amounts set at $800 and $200 respectively. As for non-domestic consumers, I also propose to waive their
water and sewage charges for one year, subject to maximum amounts set at
$3,200 and $800 respectively, so as to help reduce the operating cost of
the industrial and commercial sectors.
As some premises still use fresh water for flushing, I also propose
to waive such flushing charges for one year, subject to a maximum amount
set at $800. Currently,
operators in 30 specified trades are required to pay a trade effluent
surcharge. I propose to reduce this surcharge by a flat rate of 30% for
one year. The foregoing
concessions will cost about $1.3 billion.
|
| Waiving
Business Registration Fee
|
| 91.
To help further reduce
the operating cost of businesses, I propose to waive the business
registration fee for one year. This
proposal will cost about $1.3 billion.
|
