I WOULD like to respond to Mr Tim Gallagher's letter (South China Morning Post, December 8), which confused the separate issues of fees and charges on the one hand, and general taxation on the other. There is a clear distinction between the two.
Founded on the user-pays principle, our fees and charges are generally set to recover the full cost of the services being provided.
Only those using the services need to pay. We do this because we consider it right that those enjoying the benefit of a government service should pay for it.
Of course there are some exceptions, when services are provided free or on a heavily subsidised basis, for example, medical charges and school fees, but only when there are compelling social reasons to do so.
For the vast majority of cases, the rule is user-pays.
So the annual revisions in such charges are simply to take account of increased costs to make sure the user continues to pay the full cost and does not enjoy an unjustified subsidy from the community at large. On the other hand, we levy taxes with the primary objective of raising revenue to fund those services which the Government has a natural duty to provide (for example, security, prison service etc), or which the community looks to the Government to provide as part of its social and regulatory responsibilities.