XN000022-1996-03-06 — Page 56

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To increase the allowance for the third to ninth child by 14 per cent, from $11,000 to $12,500.

To increase the basic and the additional allowance for dependent parents and grandparents from $22,000 and $6,000 by 11 per cent and 17 per cent, to $24,500 and $7,000 respectively.

To increase the single parent allowance by 13 per cent, from $40,000 to $45,000.

To increase the disabled dependant allowance by 36 per cent, from $11,000 to $15,000.

To introduce a new allowance of $24,500 for a taxpayer maintaining a brother or sister for whom no child allowance is being claimed, with an additional allowance of $15,000 where the brother or sister is disabled. This concession will strengthen our family values.

To introduce a specific deduction to allow taxpayers to claim as a deductible expense fees for training courses attended at approved institutions, up to a maximum of $12,000 a year. This is to recognise the changing nature of the economy and the need to upgrade skill levels,

"Taken together these improvements will reduce the tax burden for some 95 per cent of salaries taxpayers," Mr Tsang told the Legislative Council.

The Financial Secretary also gave examples to show what the concessions would mean in practice:

A single person with a monthly income of $15,000, with two dependent parents living with him and a dependent brother or sister still receiving full-time education, will have his tax bill cut by over 98 per cent. He will pay less than $5 a month in tax.

The salaries tax bill for a single-parent family earning $16,000 a month with one child and a dependent parent living together will be reduced by 97 per cent to less than $2 a month.

The typical "sandwich-class" family of four with monthly earnings of $25,000 will have its tax bill cut by some 43 per cent. It will pay only $556 a month in tax.