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Hong Kong’s finance chief floats tax break for middle-class families with foreign domestic helpers
- Government would also have to decide whether concession would apply to families who employ local domestic workers, Paul Chan says
- While administration does not intend to drastically roll back relief measures, some adjustments needed given deficit, he warns ahead of next month’s budget address
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Hong Kong’s finance chief has vowed to consider a tax break for middle-class families who hire foreign domestic workers to help them cope with the pressures of a post-pandemic economy.
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While current relief measures for residents would not be drastically rolled back, some tax adjustments were unavoidable given the deficit the government was facing, Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po told a public forum on Saturday ahead of his budget speech next month.
Chan also made it clear the double stamp duty that non-residents must pay on home purchases would remain unchanged but the government had decided against introducing a tax on vacant flats.
“The government needs to increase income and cut expenditure in the face of a high deficit and soaring expenses aggravated by the ageing population,” he said. “We need to study in detail which tax items should be rolled out to increase our revenue.
“In this regard, the whole society will have to bear this responsibility together.”
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