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Following is the transcript (English portion) of a media stand-up session by the Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, Mr Frederick Ma, at the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce's seminar on GST today (September 25 ):
Reporter: On the whole it does not appear that the GST is drawing more support than criticism. It seems to be that the critics are carrying the day. Do you feel that you are getting a message that the community just isn't ready for GST?
Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury: We are at the early stage of our consultation period which will end next March. So it would be too early to tell that the public are against the GST yet. But of course it is our duty to explain to the community why we are making such a proposal and hopefully we can convince our citizens that this is a solution for reforming Hong Kong's tax system in the future. So we are continuing our effort to convince the citizens that this is needed to reform our tax.
Reporter: Some people say that it seems that you and the Financial Secretary are carrying the bulk of the load on GST. Do you feel that there could be a little more effort throughout the government to push this role?
Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury: I think the Chief Executive has also spoken on the subject and this is a government proposal so we have the backing of the entire administration. Of course it is my job and the Financial Secretary's job to explain to the public what GST is all about and why we propose such an idea.
Reporter: Why can't you widen the tax band?
Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury: Well, this is certainly an option that we have looked at as well. But we have examined all the options as you said and the Advisory Committee on New Broad-based Taxes in 2002 drew the conclusion that GST is the best option to maintain Hong Kong's competitiveness as well as to broaden our tax base.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)
Ends/Monday, September 25, 2006
Issued at HKT 18:03
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