Tax specialist calls for more generous allowances
The president of the Taxation Institute of Hong Kong on Thursday said the financial secretary had taken the correct approach with this year's budget, though she called for more generous allowances for individual taxpayers. Carol Liu told RTHK's Hong Kong Today programme that she agreed with Financial Secretary Paul Chan's decision to offer smaller scale measures to help support enterprises and individuals in what he has described as a "moderately liberal" approach. However Liu said Chan should consider offering more tax allowances for workers.  "Our institute welcomes the proposed increase in the basic child allowance and additional child allowance for each child born," she told RTHK's Vicky Wong, referring to Chan's decision to increase the allowances from HK$120,000 to HK$130,000 "In view [of the fact] that budget proposals in the past few years did not increase any other personal allowances, the institute considers that various personal allowances for salaries tax can be increased, similar to the increment level of the child allowance, in order to relieve the financial burden of the individual employees. "For example the married person allowance, the single parents allowance and also the dependent parents and grandparents allowance." Liu also welcomed the financial chief's decision to offer a further round of electronic consumption vouchers, saying the HK$5,000 handout would help promote the use of electronic payments. Speaking on the same programme, a member of the government's taskforce to promote and brand Hong Kong said Chan's budget was the most comprehensive that he's ever put together. Allan Zeman, chairman of the Lan Kwai Fong Group, praised Chan's “Happy Hong Kong” campaign, which will see a host of events put on in the SAR in the coming months. "It really had something for everyone," Zeman said of the budget. "The Happy Hong Kong, large-scale food fairs, gourmet marketplaces, the summer carnival on the harbour ... I think there's something like over 150 different events planned for this coming year," he told RTHK's Ben Tse. "I think it will be well attended and people from all over will come to Hong Kong and find that there's a lot of attractions, that we've finally opened up ... I think it's time that the world realises we are open for business and Hong Kong is back."