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Revenue Bill 2008 gazetted
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The Revenue Bill 2008, which seeks to implement a number of the
revenue measures announced in the 2008-09 Budget, was gazetted today
(April 25).
Under the Bill, the Hotel Accommodation
Tax Ordinance (Cap. 348) and the Inland Revenue Ordinance (Cap.
112) will be amended to effect the relevant revenue proposals.
The proposal to waive the hotel accommodation tax will be effected
by amending the Hotel Accommodation Tax Ordinance and will come
into effect on July 1, 2008.
"Waiving the hotel accommodation
tax can promote inbound tourism and enhance the competitiveness
of our hotel industry," a government spokesman said.
Other proposals relating to salaries
tax, tax under personal assessment, profits tax and property tax
will be effected by amending the Inland Revenue Ordinance.
The first proposal to be made by
amending the Inland Revenue Ordinance is to implement the measures
announced in the 2007 Policy Address that the standard rate and
the corporate tax rate be reduced from 16% to 15% and from 17.5%
to 16.5% respectively.
The second proposal is to increase
the basic allowance and single parent allowance under salaries tax
from $100,000 to $108,000 and married person¡¦s allowance from $200,000
to $216,000. It is also proposed that each tax band be widened from
$35,000 to $40,000.
"This proposal can respond
to calls from the community to revert the personal allowances under
salaries tax to their 2002-03 levels and to further widen the tax
band," the spokesman said.
The third proposal is to increase
the deduction ceiling for approved charitable donations under profits
tax, salaries tax and tax under personal assessment from 25% to
35% of assessable profits/income.
The fourth proposal is to allow a
100% profits tax deduction for capital expenditure on environment-friendly
machinery and equipment in the year of purchase and to shorten the
depreciation period for environment-friendly installations mainly
ancillary to buildings from the usual 25 years to five years.
The four proposals to be effected
by amending the Inland Revenue Ordinance above will take effect
from the year of assessment 2008-09.
The fifth proposal is to reduce the
salaries tax, tax under personal assessment, profits tax and property
tax for 2007-08 by 75%, subject to a ceiling of $25,000 for each
case. "Since the fiscal position in 2007-08 was considerably
better than estimated, the Government proposes this one-off measure
to share wealth with the community." He added that the reduction
would be reflected in the taxpayer's final tax payable for 2007-08.
It is estimated that the proposal
to waive the hotel accommodation tax will cost the Government $470
million a year. The proposal to lower the standard rate and corporate
tax rate will cost the Government about $5.36 billion a year. The
proposal to increase personal allowances and widen tax bands will
cost the Government about $2.31 billion a year. The proposal to
increase the deduction ceiling for approved charitable donations
will cost the Government about $80 million a year. The proposal
to reduce salaries tax, tax under personal assessment, profits tax
and property tax for 2007-08 by 75%, subject to a ceiling of $25,000
for each case, will cost the Government about $14.81 billion in
2008-09.
It is difficult to assess the financial
implications of allowing a more concessionary profits tax deduction
for capital expenditure on environment-friendly facilities but the
impact is not expected to be significant.
The Bill will be introduced into
the Legislative Council on May 7, 2008.
Ends/Friday, April 25, 2008
Issued at HKT 10:03
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