Labour Party legislator Fernando Cheung has called for a referendum on retirement protection. Photo: RTHK
The head of the University of Hong Kong's Public Opinion Programme, Robert Chung, has welcomed a proposal for a referendum to gauge public views on retirement protection.
Labour party lawmaker Fernando Cheung – who made the suggestion – had said the scope of the government's six-month public consultation on the issue was too narrow and biased.
He says people could have more say on the matter if a vote is held on it.
"A retirement scheme is a big system. I think it is quite appropriate for people to express their idea and their wish directly", Cheung said.
The government released a public consultation paper on retirement protection last week. It warned that the profits tax rate may have to be raised from 16.5 to 20.7 percent and the standard salaries tax rate from 15 to 23.3 percent, to give everyone over the age of 65 a monthly pension of HK$3,230. It instead offered an alternative proposal in the paper – that of paying pensions only to those with assets of HK$80,000 or less.
About 180 academics from different universities later said that they have decided to boycott the consultation, after accusing the administration of playing with numbers and exaggerating the cost of the proposed universal pension scheme. They said there were other ways to make such a scheme sustainable besides raising taxes.
http://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/component/k2/1232160-20151228.htm
