TNAG-1641-FCO40-2288-Budget-of-Hong-Kong-1987 — Page 214

11.2.87

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125.

I believe that Members, and the public at

large, will welcome these concessions. They will also

save the Inland Revenue Department the considerable task

of processing a large number of tax returns for a

relatively low yield, and will exclude from the tax net

some 100 000 persons who would otherwise have become

liable to salaries tax next year (50). Examples of the

effects of these concessions upon various categories of

taxpayers are set out in an appendix to the printed

version of this speech (51).

(50)

Excluding the cut in the Standard Rate which benefits some 43 000 standard-rate taxpayers, if the proposed concessions are brought into law, no less than a total of 710 000 persons (or 94% of the estimated salaries tax-paying population) will benefit in 1987-88, i.e.

135 500 taxpayers previously liable to Salaries Tax will now be exempt;

:

100 000 persons who would have become liable to Salaries Tax will be kept out of the tax net; and

474 500 taxpayers will benefit by way of reduced tax liability.

Furthermore, some 52 000 persons who elect to be assessed under Personal Assessment will also benefit through reduced liability in 1988-89.

(51)

Appendix E.

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K