City being wishy-washy about raising water tariffs

Despite the price rise, water officials said they had no plan to raise water tariffs, which have not changed since 1995. But they pledged to continue studying the possibility of adjusting the progressive tariffs for water use ...

SCMP, October 21

How do you like it? We do not raise dues, we adjust a progressive tariff. Our financial secretary may want to take some speech lessons here the next time he raises sinners' taxes - 'we're just being progressive'.

But someone has already been progressive in water charges, as the chart reveals. The consumer price index (CPI) clearly shows that water charges have already risen more than 7 per cent over the past three years.

This is still well below the overall rate of inflation, however, which begs the question: should water rates be tied to the CPI, as the government has done with charges for so many other public services - public transport, for instance - or should it reflect the cost of water?

It's actually a pointless question. We haven't even progressed that far yet in water charges. The last time the question was raised, our legislators agreed that water is a resource affecting people's livelihoods and therefore no increases at all should be allowed.

Yes, I don't quite follow the logic either. Could this gaggle of lawyers please tell us if there is any item of living costs that does not affect people's livelihoods?