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Monetary Authority tax exemption approved by ExCo
The Exemption from Salaries Tax (Monetary Authority) Order was made by the Governor-in-Council on July 25.
The order to exempt the Monetary Authority (MA) and its staff from salaries tax liabilities for benefits received under the Hong Kong Monetary Authority Provident Fund Scheme.
Unlike its private sector counterparts, the scheme cannot be registered under the Occupational Retirement Schemes Ordinance (ORSO)(which would have enabled it to enjoy salaries tax exemption status) because ORSO does not and cannot bind the MA, who is an emanation of the Crown.
The order merely brings the tax position of the MA and its staff on par with participants of comparable private sector provident fund schemes. The order does not seek to give the MA and its staff any preferential treatment.
End/Friday, July 28, 1995
Latest HIV/AIDS situation
A total of 29 persons were found positive for the HIV antibody test in the second quarter of 1995, the Department of Health announced today (Friday). This brings the number of HIV infected persons in Hong Kong to 573.
Six new AIDS cases were reported during the same period.
The total number of confirmed AIDS cases is 148.
Among the HIV-infected, 198 acquired through homosexual or bisexual sex and 249 through heterosexual sex; 12 were injecting drug users; two were mother-to- child transmissions around the time of birth; and 66 acquired through contaminated blood or blood products before 1985 when HIV antibody test and safe heat treated clotting concentrates were not available.