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The following is issued on behalf of the Legislative Council Secretariat:
The Legislative Council (LegCo) will hold a meeting this Wednesday (January 5) at 11am in the Chamber of the LegCo Building. During the meeting, Members will debate a motion on urging the Government to take measures for ameliorating inflation and alleviating people's livelihood pressure.
The motion, to be moved by Hon Wong Sing-chi, states: "That Hong Kong has seen rapid economic growth and the re-emergence of inflation since 2004, but the increases in wages of grass-root people have failed to catch up with increases in prices, resulting in the decline in their real wages and living standards; in the recent year or so, there has been an influx of outside capitals into Hong Kong and substantial increases in values property, bringing significant rental increases, and further boosting inflation; moreover, in the recent month, the fees and charges of many public utility services have been adjusted and the rates of increases are higher than the inflation rate, and the livelihood of the grass-root people will be very difficult; in this connection, this Council urges the Government to implement measures to ameliorate inflation and alleviate pressure on people's livelihood; the relevant measures should include:
(a) to provide a subsidy of $3,600 to each of the 2.5 million or so residential electricity accounts in Hong Kong; in order to encourage the public to reduce electricity consumption, to provide a subsidy of $1,200 to members of the public whose electricity consumption in any half-year period is 5% or more less than that for the same period of the preceding year;
(b) to pay two months' rent for tenants living in the rental units of the Hong Kong Housing Authority and the Hong Kong Housing Society;
(c) rates concession: to waive rates for the entire year of 2011-2012, subject to a ceiling of $1,500 per quarter for each household;
(d) to provide two additional months of payments for recipients of Old Age Allowance (i.e. "fruit grant"), Comprehensive Social Security Assistance and Disability Allowance;
(e) to resume the Home Ownership Scheme and the Sale of Flats to Sitting Tenants Scheme;
(f) salaries tax deduction: to increase the basic allowance according to the inflation rate from the present $108,000 to $113,000; to increase the married person's allowance according to the inflation rate from the present $216,000 to $226,000; to increase the child allowance from the present $50,000 to $60,000; and to increase the dependant parent allowance from the present $30,000 to $60,000;
(g) to abolish the standard rate for salaries tax: it is proposed that the standard tax rate be abolished so that members of the public pay their salaries tax according to the marginal tax rate;
(h) to provide members of the public with tax deductions for retirement protection savings: where members of the public purchase any retirement savings schemes the accrued benefits of which can only be claimed at the age of 65, or if they make any additional contributions to the Mandatory Provident Fund schemes, the contributions concerned may be deducted from the chargeable incomes for salaries tax, subject to a ceiling of $20,000;
(i) to increase the salaries tax deduction for expenses of self-education from $60,000 to $100,000; and
(j) to introduce anti-inflation retail bonds solely for sale to Hong Kong permanent residents and persons aged 65 or above have priority in buying such bonds, and the total value of such bonds should be about $30 billion, with the face values of bonds ranging from $50,000 to $100,000 and the maturity periods ranging from two years to five years; the Government should distribute annual inflation-linked interests to the purchasers of such bonds, while the principals of the bonds should be entrusted to the Hong Kong Monetary Authority for investment; and the Government should develop the second bond market to facilitate bond redemption by members of the public."
Hon Frederick Fung, Dr Hon Pan Pey-chyou, Hon Miriam Lau and Hon Chan Kam-lam will move amendments to Hon Wong Sing-chi's motion respectively.
Members will debate another motion on promoting long-term sports development. The motion, to be moved by Hon Kam Nai-wai, says: "That the Hong Kong Government has decided to bid to host the 2023 Asian Games, but it has not put forward any blueprint for long-term sports development, in that it lacks commitment to promote community-wide participation in sports and has no plan to improve training for local athletes, this Council expresses disappointment in this regard; following the Government's failure to bid to host the 2006 Asian Games 10 years ago, it has failed to honour its undertaking of building sports venues, and the hosting of the 2009 East Asian Games did not foster a culture of promoting community-wide participation in sports, this Council considers that the Hong Kong Government should formulate and implement a long-term policy on sports, enhance training for local athletes and treat them well, take concrete steps to promote sports for all, and establish a sound administrative structure for sports; in this connection, this Council urges the Government to implement the following measures:
(a) to draw up a 10-year blueprint for sports development, set objectives for community-wide participation in sports, and undertake planning for local athletes' training; regardless of whether the bid to host the Asian Games is successful or not, the Government should allocate $6 billion for establishing a "Sports Fund", with a view to promoting the policy on community-wide participation in sports and enhancing training for local athletes;
(b) to establish a mechanism for protecting current and retired athletes, provide scholarships for their pursuit of further studies overseas or locally, and put in place measures to ensure their employment; and by making reference to overseas experience, to provide commercial organisations with tax concessions, so as to encourage the trades to employ current or retired athletes;
(c) to allocate funds for supporting athletes' after-training academic learning, with a view to providing them with learning assistance in foundation academic subjects, and to hold discussions with universities on allocating additional resources for providing places specifically for athletes;
(d) to construct more district sports facilities and venues, and allow members of the public and students to have priority in using such utility-based district sports venues, thereby promoting sports for all;
(e) to improve students' opportunities to participate in sports, including increasing the number and duration of physical education lessons in secondary and primary schools, so as to cultivate students' interest in sports;
(f) to make accurate and precise estimation on the costs of constructing sports venues and submit them to the Legislative Council for scrutiny, so that this Council can scrutinise the Government's applications based on the needs for the development of sports for all and elite sports in different districts; and
(g) to reform the Sports Federation and Olympic Committee of Hong Kong, China and the various National Sports Associations by requiring them to introduce professional administrative management and increase transparency of their finances, as well as to establish reasonable selection and appeal mechanisms, so as to ensure fair treatment of all athletes."
Hon Wong Kwok-hing, Hon Tanya Chan and Hon Ip Kwok-him will move amendments to Hon Kam Nai-wai's motion respectively.
Meanwhile, Hon Leung Kwok-hung will move a resolution under the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance to repeal the Minimum Wage Ordinance (Amendment of Schedule 3) Notice 2010, laid on the table of the LegCo on November 17, 2010.
Hon Miriam Lau will also move a motion under Rule 49E(2) of the LegCo Rules of Procedure. The motion states: "That this Council takes note of Report No. 9/10-11 of the House Committee laid on the Table of the Council on January 5, 2011 in relation to the subsidiary legislation and instrument(s) as listed below:
(1) Human Organ Transplant (Amendment) Regulation 2010; and
(2) Human Organ Transplant (Appeal Board) Regulation."
In addition, Members will also ask the Administration 20 questions on various policy areas, six of which require oral replies.
The agenda of the above meeting can be obtained via the LegCo InfoFax Service (Tel: 2869 9568) or the LegCo website (www.legco.gov.hk). Please note that the agenda is subject to change, and the latest information about the agenda could be found in the LegCo website.
Members of the public are welcome to observe the proceedings of the meeting from the public galleries of the LegCo Chamber. They may reserve seats by calling 2869 9399 during office hours. Seats will be allocated on a first-come-first-served basis. Members of the public can also listen to the meeting via the web broadcast system on the LegCo website.
Ends/Monday, January 3, 2011
Issued at HKT 18:18
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