TNAG-1361-FCO40-1807-Hong-Kong-Hansard-reports-and-minutes-of-the-meetings-of-the-1985 — Page 183

G.F. 316

secondly

that

the

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child allowances be

88.

have

increased, for a first child from $8,000 to $9,000 and for a second child from $5,500 to $6,000;

thirdly that the additional allowance for a dependent parent residing with the taxpayer be increased from $2,000 to $3,000, thereby increasing the total allowance for each dependent parent in such cases to $11,000;

fourthly that the fourth band in the Second Schedule of the Ordinance, that is to say the band to which the 20% rate of tax presently applies, be widened from $10,000 to $20,000. This will defer the point at which the 25% rate

comes into play by $10,000 of income and,

incidentally, increase the income levels at

which taxpayers enter the standard rate zone.

will

Examples of the effects which these concessions

for various categories of taxpayers are set out in Appendices D, E and F to the printed version of the Budget Speech (44).

89.

I believe that Members and, indeed, the public at large

will welcome these measures which

measures which are designed to benefit some of the less well-off salaries taxpayers including some of the middle income group the so-called "sandwich society". There will no doubt be those who will argue that these concessions

(44) A typical family comprising a married couple and two children with a monthly income of, say, $10,000 will in future pay tax of $6,400 annually, compared with a present liability of $7,625. A similar family will not now enter the standard rate zone until total annual income reaches $296,875 compared with the present level of $279,687. A married couple on a monthly income of, say, $20,000 with two children and two dependent parents resident with them will pay $30,750 salaries tax per annum rather than the present annual bill of $32,625.

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