—
Finally, I wish to explain why the present Bill could not have been introduced into this Council earlier. It was originally our plan to introduce, together with this Bill, a new regulation under the FIUO which requires the implementation of a safety management system in selected industrial undertakings. However, considerable legal and technical problems and resultant delays have arisen in the drafting of the new regulation on the safety management system. We have therefore decided to introduce the FIU (Amendment) Bill 1997 first. We still plan to submit the new FIU (Safety Management) Regulation, when it is ready, to Members for approval later in the
current session.
Thank you, Mr President.
End
Inland Revenue (Amendment) Bill 1997
Following is the speech by the acting Secretary for the Treasury, Mr Kevin Ho, in moving the second reading of the Inland Revenue (Amendment) Bill 1997 in the Legislative Council today (Wednesday):
Mr President,
time.
I move that the Inland Revenue (Amendment) Bill 1997 be read the second
This is the first of the six Bills which I will introduce today to give effect to the revenue proposals in the 1997-98 Budget, which Members have recently debated in this Council.
The Bill before Members seeks to increase the salaries tax allowances and the maximum deduction for training expenses as announced in the Budget. It also seeks to rationalise the marginal salaries tax structure.
I would first like to remind Members of the detailed increases in allowances and training deduction. The basic and married person's allowances will be increased by 11.1 per cent from $90,000 to $100,000 and from $180,000 to $200,000 respectively. The first and second child allowance will be increased by 10.2 per cent from $24,500 to $27,000. The allowance for the third to ninth child will be increased by 12 per cent from $12,500 to $14,000. The allowances for dependent parents, grandparents and brothers and sisters will be increased by 10.2 per cent from $24,500 to $27,000 while the additional allowance for dependent parents and grandparents will be increased by 14.3 per cent from $7,000 to $8,000.