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LCQ9: Number of salaries taxpayers and respective
tax rate
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Following is a question by the Hon Bernard Chan and
a written reply by the Secretary for Financial Services and the
Treasury, Mr Frederick Ma, in the Legislative Council today (December
3):
Question:
In his statement on Hong Kong's economy and management of public
finances, made at the Council meeting on October 22, 2003, the Financial
Secretary said that "only slightly over one third of the working
population need to pay any tax on their salaries. Only 100,000,
which is 3% of the working population, will contribute 59% of the
salaries tax." In this connection, will the Government inform
this Council of the total number of taxpayers paying salaries tax
only in each of the past three financial years and, among them,
the respective numbers of taxpayers whose salaries tax payment represents
only five percent, 10 percent and 15 percent of their annual total
assessable income less total deductions?
Reply:
President,
The numbers of taxpayers liable to salaries tax were 1,215,131 in
2000-01, 1,208,336 in 2001-02 and 1,097,036 in 2002-03 (Note).
Depending on the year in question, for 70.8% to 75.8% of salaries
taxpayers, their effective tax rate (tax amount divided by the assessable
income) was below 5%. For 15.5% to 18.8% of taxpayers, their effective
tax rate was 5% to 9.99%. For 8.7% to 10.1% of taxpayers, their
effective tax rate was 10% to 14.99%. For 0% to 0.4% of taxpayers,
their effective tax rate was 15%. (Details)
If the basis for calculation is changed from assessable income to
assessable income less deductions, the respective percentages were
69.3% to 74.4%, 15.8% to 19.1%, 9.8% to 10.6% and 0% to 1.1% respectively.
Note: Income earned in a year is principally assessed in the following
year. As at December 2, 2003, the assessing program for the year
of assessment 2002-03 has not been completed. It is expected that
the number of taxpayers in 2002-03 will be higher than 1,097,036
and very much the same as in 2001-02.
Ends/Wednesday, December 3, 2003
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