Middle-class families to get ‘massive’ tax breaks in Hong Kong budget
Source tells Post that finance chief will unveil incentives and relief measures to lessen burden on those struggling with housing and family expenses
Details will be unveiled on Wednesday when Chan announces his plan to spend a huge fiscal surplus that might surge well beyond HK$140 billion (US$17 billion), far above his official estimate a year ago.
“The whole thinking behind the budget is about sharing, how people can get a fair share from the big surplus,” a source familiar with the fiscal situation told the Post.
The Post reported earlier that the surplus had already exceeded HK$120 billion and would fall just below HK$160 billion as projected by some giant accounting firms.
The source added that more allowances would be granted to ensure the remaining 10 per cent of primary schools in the city would hire social workers to protect students from family abuse.
The government is also expected to lower the first registration tax for private electric vehicles.
Cash handouts for Hongkongers unlikely, finance chief says ahead of annual budget announcement
The financial secretary has emphasised previously that he would rather invest more in the city’s future and spend in areas such as innovation than give out money to everyone.
More opposition politicians have weighed in to support the pro-establishment camp’s call for cash handouts.
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“We still agree the government should invest in long-term planning,” said Democratic Party chairman Wu Chi-wai, who argued cash handouts could be a more efficient way to reach out to the needy.
“But if the administration has already set aside around HK$40 billion to HK$50 billion for relief measures, why not return this sum of money to the citizens through cash handouts instead?”
Wu said “N-nothing” families – referring to those who are eligible for neither subsidised housing nor welfare assistance – had been left out in previous budgets, and cash handouts would give them a boost.
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Sze Lai-san of the Society for Community Organisation warned that more than 40,000 N-nothing households would suffer without cash handouts.
More than 65,000 households applied for a one-off living subsidy for low-income families back in 2016 but the programme, which lasted for three years, was cancelled last year.
Although another programme offering a monthly subsidy to low-income working families has been in place since May 2016, Sze said it had so many restrictions that only about 18,000 households living in subdivided flats had applied for it.
“It means there are more than 40,000 poor families struggling with high rents and are out of the safety net,” she said.
Yan Nga-chi, a single mother who had applied for the N-nothing subsidy back in 2016, was hopeful that Chan would deliver cash so that she could have her monthly rent waived for once.
“My rental contract will be renewed in May and I’m afraid the new rent will go up from the current HK$6,900,” said Yan, whose earns about HK$10,000 per month.
“I also hope the government will build more public flats so that we can move into a cheaper unit.”
A spokesman for the financial secretary said the government had noted such concerns and would address them in a holistic manner.