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Retirement protection for elderly people of Hong Kong is having a heat debate about the Retirement Protection Public Consultation. I believe the society at-large（整個社會）should and have to recognize the elderly contribution to the city and their right to be taken care especially for those who are in needs.
The imbalance of demographical trends（人口趨勢失衡）poses challenges to Hong Kong's economy growth, the sustainability of tax revenues（稅收的可持續性）, and resources allocation for social programmes (政府服務的資源配置). According to the SAR government, the share of elderly（aged 65 or above）in the total population will increase from 15.4%（or 1.07 million）in 2014 to 35.9%（or 2.58 million）in 2064. In contrast, the share of available labor force will drop from 3.6 million in 2014 to 3.11 million in 2064. The dependency ratio （撫養比例）will worsen further from 371 children and elderly people per 1000 people of working age in 2014 to 831 in 2064.
Hong Kong's existing tax base is very narrow by international standards, relying on only a limited range of taxes and non-tax income to support our public expenditure（公共開支）. The low taxes and a simple taxation system are once the strengths and advantages of Hong Kong attracting businesses and talents to Hong Kong.
可能導致經常性赤字
The rapid aging society（老齡化社會）and the shrinkage of the labor force（勞動力萎縮）will slow down the economic growth which may pose a huge stress to the HKSAR's tax revenue and other income. Tax hike and a recurrent budget deficit（經常性預算赤字）seem inevitable. If we apply the "regardless of rich or poor" principle on retirement protection system, we are likely to impose an even higher tax burden on the next generation.
The Universal retirement protection plan deviates（偏離）from the Hong Kong's core value of self-reliance and hard work. Such protection scheme will increase the reliance on the future generation on the government benefits, thus will reduce the saving incentive of the people. We should have put in place an affordable and sustainable retirement protection system. The government should continue use the "those with financial needs" principle allocating resources towards increased support for the elderly in need.■陳威雄
隔星期五見報
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