http://thestandard.com.hk/news_print.asp?art_id=154510&sid=43949393
There is less than a day to go before Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah delivers his budget, but he’s still being pressed on inclusions such as adjusting child, personal and parent allowances in line with inflation.
Kenneth Lau Tuesday, February 24, 2015
There is less than a day to go before Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah delivers his budget, but he’s still being pressed on inclusions such as adjusting child, personal and parent allowances in line with inflation. As it is, he is expected to increase child allowance from HK$70,000 to HK$80,000 while keeping the tax rebate above HK$10,000. Florence Chan Yuen-fan, who chairs a Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants’ taxation panel, said if the tax allowance is adjusted according to the inflation rate meaning a raised allowance alongside increases in salaries “citizens will feel more secure.”
University of Hong Kong demographic expert Paul Yip Siu- fai said increased allowances will not encourage couples to have more children. Yip suggests more family-friendly policies to increase the birthrate. University of Hong Kong professor Nelson Chow Wing-sun said it is time to raise the old-age living supplement. Chow said in a radio interview this would be possible if HK$50 billion is injected into a retirement program. About 430,000 people receive a HK$2,300 old-age living supplement, but under his proposal they could get HK$3,000 a month. Meanwhile, only 13 percent of 1,107 people interviewed by the Hong Kong Research Association expect much from the budget. Forty-eight percent do not expect anything special and 32 percent believe it will fail to please.
And the Clear the Air concern group criticized Secretary for Food and Health Ko Wing-man for saying that any increase in tobacco tax must consider affordability. Chairman James Middleton said the grassroots are the ones in most need of being monetarily persuaded to quit smoking and “doubling the excise tax will do that, leaving more money for food for the grassroots families.” He added: “The main idea of regular excise taxation in excess of inflation is to stop youths from starting to smoke, not whether the grassroots can afford it.”