One of the almost certain outcomes of the current budget 'consultation' exercise is that the opinions collected will be ignored but that the government will think of new and exciting ways to confirm that the public's views have been carefully taken on board.
Moreover, there will be much talk of 'giveaways' and 'concessions', displaying wilful disregard of the fact that the recipients of this alleged generosity are the very people who paid for it in the first place.
To be fair, Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah is using more imagination in trying to solicit public views this time round, but he has singularly failed to come clean on how the budget is actually constructed. The truth is that, by the time the consultation process kicks in, most of the major decisions about the budget will already have been taken.
Indeed, the composition of the budget presents a classic example of disjointed government. Every government department submits a wish list requiring funds; what follows is an intense period of internal bargaining, horse-trading and finally compromise.
The compromise could be said to be an outcome that satisfies the public interest, but it is nothing of the kind. It is, in fact, a delicate process of pacifying clashing egos, balancing bureaucratic priorities and, somewhere in all this, reaching a conclusion that offends the least number of people as opposed to satisfying the majority.
Political parties and various interest groups are also wheeled in and permitted to make grandstanding demands but, after being allowed to vent their views, they can safely be ignored.