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Following are the remarks by the Chief Executive, Mr C Y Leung, at the Spring Reception at Government House this afternoon (February 16):
I shall repeat my very quick message as this is not a speech, so please relax. Just very quickly.
One is to offer you the very best wishes, the New Year wishes. A traditional southern Chinese way of greeting each other during the New Year period, which is to say "Kung hei fat choi", wish you make a lot more money. This, apart from being a traditional New Year greeting, has its practical meaning particularly for the Financial Secretary, because the more money businesses and taxpayers generally make, the more tax money our Financial Secretary collects and, therefore, the various other departments in the Government do more for the Hong Kong community. It is notable that in the financial year 2014/2015, both profits tax and salary tax collections reached record highs. As for the situation of 2015/2016, I am sure the Financial Secretary will soon make the appropriate announcement. So that's the New Year greeting.
Secondly, and more importantly, I would like to thank all of you for your support, particularly those of you who work for the Government and by extension for the community at large, serving on the various committees and statutory bodies in the past year. A big thank you from myself and from the Hong Kong Government. So thank you very much, and happy new year.
Ends/Tuesday, February 16, 2016
Issued at HKT 19:22
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