Any pension scheme needs contributions
Mr Cheng is in favour of a “retirement protection scheme”. A pension scheme, or retirement scheme, gives monthly payments to a person after retirement, depending on how much the person has contributed to it when he or she was working. In such schemes, people who have never worked and never contributed to the scheme, such as housewives, also receive a monthly payment. The majority source of funding for such schemes come from contributions by those who are working.
Hong Kong is now proposing a world-first “retirement scheme” in which nobody has contributed and nobody will contribute to, yet everybody over 65 will receive a payment. Only a place like Hong Kong will have a discussion of whether there should be such a scheme. In other parts of the world, those who propose such a scheme will be thrown into loony bins.
However, I agree with what Mr Cheng said about the Old Age Living Allowance. At present, it pays elderly in need – who are 65 and older and who have assets of less than HK$210,000 – HK$2,390 a month. This payment should be increased to HK$3,000 a month. “Officials can make this happen quickly – in the next budget, on February 24,” Mr Cheng said.
I agree. This is the least our coffee-sipping, French movie-watching Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah should do for the old people of Hong Kong.
Alex Woo, Tsim Sha Tsui
