Letters | Abolish the MPF and bring universal basic income to Hong Kong
- The Mandatory Provident Fund should be replaced as it does not do its job as a retirement fund and has failed ordinary Hongkongers
The priority seemed to be that government officials should have no responsibility, so a statutory authority was set up to work independently with the private sector to establish a “privately managed” retirement scheme; that private financial service providers should boost Hong Kong’s financial services industry; and that employers should be compensated for the perceived inconvenience.
Splitting the contribution into two – 5 per cent from the employer and 5 per cent from the employee – was a large red herring. The employer’s contribution was never an additional payment borne by the employer, but rather an extraction that was built into the compensation package. It is a fallacy that the MPF had a financial impact on employers apart from minor administrative costs.
Pre-existing long service and severance payments were separate, legally binding agreements with the employee. It is bizarre and unconscionable that the government allowed these to be deducted from the worker’s MPF, and it is now completely astonishing they are planning to use billions in taxpayer dollars to subsidise the phasing out of this inappropriate offsetting mechanism. This illustrates how deeply vested interests have been rooted in our government’s decisions.