Supporting the General Public
43. I will introduce the following one‑off relief measures to alleviate the economic pressure on the public:
| (a) | reducing salaries tax and tax under personal assessment for the year of assessment 2022/23 by 100 per cent, subject to a ceiling of $6,000. The reduction will be reflected in the final tax payable for the year of assessment 2022/23. This measure will benefit 1.9 million taxpayers and reduce government revenue by $8.5 billion; |
| (b) | providing rates concession for domestic properties for the first two quarters of 2023‑24, subject to a ceiling of $1,000 per quarter for each rateable property. This measure is estimated to involve 3.03 million domestic properties and reduce government revenue by $5.2 billion; |
| (c) | providing an allowance to eligible social security recipients, equal to one half of a month of the standard rate Comprehensive Social Security Assistance payments, Old Age Allowance, Old Age Living Allowance or Disability Allowance. This measure will involve an additional expenditure of about $2,721 million. Similar arrangements will apply to recipients of the Working Family Allowance, involving an additional expenditure of about $116 million; |
| (d) | extending the temporary special measures under the Public Transport Fare Subsidy Scheme for a period of six months till October 2023 to provide commuters with a subsidy amounting to one‑third of their actual monthly public transport expenses in excess of $200, subject to a maximum of $500 per month. This measure will involve an additional expenditure of about $1.08 billion. It is estimated that the scheme will benefit about 3.5 million commuters per month; |
| (e) | paying the examination fees for school candidates sitting for the 2024 Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education Examination, incurring an expenditure of $151 million; and |
| (f) | granting each eligible residential electricity account a subsidy of $1,000. This measure will involve an expenditure of about $2.9 billion. The current arrangement of distributing electricity charges relief of $50 a month to each eligible residential electricity account will be extended to the end of 2025. This measure will involve an expenditure of about $3.5 billion and benefit around 2.9 million residential households. |
44. Besides, I propose to increase the basic child allowance and the additional child allowance for each child born during the year of assessment from the current $120,000 to $130,000 starting from the year of assessment 2023/24. This measure is estimated to benefit 324 000 taxpayers and reduce tax revenue by $610 million a year.
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