$20b in relief measures proposed
February 26, 2014
Five one-off relief measures involving about $20 billion are proposed in the 2014-15 Budget.
Delivering his Budget address today, Financial Secretary John Tsang said the measures include reducing salaries tax and tax under personal assessment for 2013-14 by 75%, subject to a ceiling of $10,000, and reducing profits tax for 2013-14 by 75%, subject to a ceiling of $10,000.
The Government will also waive rates for the first two quarters of 2014-15, subject to a ceiling of $1,500 per quarter for each rateable property.
Other measures include paying one month’s rent for public housing tenants and providing an extra allowance to welfare recipients.
“Together with other measures in this Budget, the fiscal stimulus effect on GDP will be 0.7 percentage points,” he said.
In addition to one-off measures, Mr Tsang proposed to increase the maintenance allowances for dependent parents or grandparents, benefiting about 550,000 taxpayers.
The allowance for a dependent parent or grandparent aged 60 or above will be increased to $40,000, while that for maintaining those aged 55 to 59 will be raised to $20,000. The same increases apply to the additional allowances for taxpayers residing with these parents or grandparents continuously throughout the year.
For taxpayers whose parents or grandparents are admitted to residential care homes, the deduction ceiling for elderly residential care expenses will be raised to $80,000.
