Budget has failed to address wealth gap
I agree with the headline in your editorial on the budget speech ('Missed opportunity to plan for the future', February 24).
This budget has no forward vision or long-term initiative, and is symptomatic of a government led by career bureaucrats.
The statements made in the speech's introduction and the conclusion bear little relationship to the actual content.
Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah was mistaken when he said that this budget would 'build a cohesive community and improve people's livelihood through proper allocation and effective management of public resources'.
Immediately after the severe acute respiratory syndrome crisis in 2003, a strong community- wide consensus was reached that our revenue collection needed a wider and more stable base. Times of plenty (as now) allow necessary structural changes to be implemented smoothly, rather than in panicked enforcement due to crisis.
The wealth gap has not been addressed. And the continual reliance on the land purchasing power of a handful of property tycoons to generate the government's revenue is unsound. It will fuel further inflation at a time when Mr Tsang has identified that inflation is his major concern for the coming year.
