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The chief executive yesterday announced tax cuts and a HK$250 billion infrastructure programme in a wide-ranging policy blueprint aimed at setting a new course for the city.
In a 110-minute speech entitled "A new direction for Hong Kong", Donald Tsang Yam-kuen also called on the people of Hong Kong to adopt a new mindset to achieve another golden decade by shaking free of the self-doubt that has permeated the city since the handover.
With the government's fiscal reserves set to reach HK$400 billion, the chief executive said the standard rates for salaries and profits taxes would come down to 15 per cent and 16.5 per cent respectively in the next budget. Rate payments for the final quarter of 2007-08 will be waived.
An ambitious infrastructure programme will see the government press ahead with 10 major projects to maintain long-term competitiveness.
It will spend HK$14 billion on a raft of other initiatives. These include introducing 12 years of free education for children, a medical voucher scheme for the elderly and various programmes to clean the air and enhance heritage protection.
The tax and rates concession package will cost the government HK$7.6 billion in total. More reductions are being considered for the budget early next year, according to Mr Tsang.
Delivering the first policy address of his five-year term, Mr Tsang stressed the need for Hong Kong people to adopt a new mindset to achieve another golden decade.
"Over the next five years, we need to cultivate a new spirit for these new times," he said. "We need to become new Hongkongers, better equipped to sustain development in the new era."
He said people should drop their "small island mentality", seeing themselves from a national perspective playing a role in developing China. "Only through leveraging the strengths of our country can we position ourselves globally to create a better future," he said.
In a development-driven economic strategy, Mr Tsang set out plans for 10 major transport and development projects that will cost HK$250 billion, the bulk of it from private investment.
The projects, which include the South Island Rail and Kai Tak development, were estimated to generate 250,000 jobs.
"The added value to our economy would be more than HK$100 billion every year, about 7 per cent of our GDP," Mr Tsang said.
He confessed that infrastructure development had not matched expectations over the past decade. Public works spending this year had reached only about HK$20 billion, short of the annual target of HK$29 billion.
In moving to honour his election promise to cut taxes, Mr Tsang said the tax relief package, to be introduced by the financial secretary in the next budget, would benefit all, rather than just big corporations and top income earners.
"We asked people to sacrifice and tighten their belts during the Sars outbreak and financial turmoil. I am indebted to the people. When the economy has revived, it's our duty to give them back what they deserve," he told a media briefing following the policy address.
