Last year, it was described as the biggest giveaway budget, starring a HK$20 billion package that made taxpayers and welfare recipients happy. But as soon as then-financial secretary Henry Tang Ying-yen delivered his blueprint, he faced harsh words for leaving certain members of society out in the cold.
Critics said low-income earners, people who did not own property, and those who were not on the dole were unable to share the fruit of economic prosperity.
Even though it was not the government's intention to discriminate against the underprivileged, this unfairness made a mockery of the administration's promise of a harmonious society.
Last year's lesson was a sharp reminder for John Tsang Chun-wah, Mr Tang's successor, as he and his budget team scratched their heads about how to return wealth to all the people in this year's budget.
At one informal pre-budget session, Mr Tsang underlined the practical difficulty in implementing ideas such as handing out cash to every citizen even if - and that is a big if - they wanted to. It would be technically difficult, he said, for instance, to identify people not in the tax department's database.
Speaking at a post-budget press conference yesterday, Mr Tsang said granting a HK$1,800 subsidy to all 2.4 million households with electricity accounts was the nearest thing to a catch-all solution.
