To stimulate the economy by boosting local consumption and relieve the financial burden on the community, Mr Chan announced a cash payout of HK$10,000 to Hong Kong permanent residents (permanent resident status must be granted on or before 31st March 2021) aged 18 or above. The application will open by end of August and ends on 31st December 2020. Hongkongers will be able to collect the money as early as February 2021. This measure, which involves an expenditure of about HK$71 billion, is expected to benefit about 7 million people. Additional relief measures include: Reducing salaries tax and tax under personal assessment for 2019-20 by 100 per cent, subject to a ceiling of HK$20,000. This will benefit 1.95 million taxpayers and reduce government revenue by HK$18.8 billion;
Waiving rates for residential properties for four quarters of 2020-21, subject to a ceiling of HK$1,500 per quarter for each rateable property. This would involve about 2.93 million domestic properties and reduce government revenue by $13.3 billion;
Providing an extra allowance to eligible social security recipients, equal to one month’s standard rate payment of Comprehensive Social Security Assistance, Old Age Allowance, Old Age Living Allowance or Disability Allowance. Similar arrangements will apply to recipients of the Work Incentive Transport Subsidy. This will involve an expenditure of about HK$4.225 billion; Paying one month’s rent for lower income tenants living in public rental units of the Hong Kong Housing Authority and the Hong Kong Housing Society, involving an expenditure of about HK$1.829 billion; and Paying the examination fees for school candidates sitting for the 2021 Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education Examination, involving an expenditure of about HK$150 million. To safeguard jobs and support enterprises, Mr Chan set aside a total of HK$18.3 billion to implement a raft of measures. They include: Introducing a concessionary, low-interest loan under the SME Financing Guarantee Scheme, under which a 100 per cent guarantee will be provided by the Government; Reducing profits tax for 2019-20 by 100 per cent, subject to a ceiling of HK$20,000. This will benefit 141,000 taxpayers and reduce government revenue by HK$2 billion; Waiving rates for non-domestic properties for four quarters of 2020-21, subject to a ceiling of HK$5,000 per quarter in the first two quarters and a ceiling of $1,500 per quarter in the remaining two quarters. This proposal is estimated to benefit 420,000 non-domestic properties and reduce government revenue by HK$3.2 billion; Waiving the business registration fees for 2020-21. This will benefit 1.5 million business operators and reduce government revenue by HK$3 billion; Waiving the registration fees for all annual returns (except for late delivery) charged by the Companies Registry for two years, benefiting about 1.4 million companies and reducing related revenue by about HK$212 million in total; Providing a subsidy to each eligible, non-domestic household account for four extra months to cover 75 per cent of their monthly billed electricity charges, subject to a monthly cap of HK$5,000 per account. This will involve an expenditure of about HK$2.9 billion; Waiving 75 per cent of water and sewage charges payable by non-domestic households for four extra months, subject to a monthly cap of HK$20,000 andHK $12,500, respectively, per household. This will reduce government revenue by HK$340 million; Providing a six-month rental subsidy to local recycling enterprises, involving expenditure of about HK$100 million; Reducing rental by 50 per cent for another six months for eligible tenants of government properties, government land and the EcoPark. This will reduce government revenue by HK$573 million; Reducing rentals and fees for eligible operators of properties covered by short-term waivers by 50 per cent for another six months. This will reduce government revenue by HK$265 million; Providing hirers of civic centres under the Leisure and Cultural Services Department with a 50 per cent reduction of hire charges for another six months. This will reduce government revenue by HK$23 million; and Offering another six months of fees and rent reduction for cruise lines and existing tenants of the Cruise Terminal. This will reduce government revenue by HK$18 million. The budget also allocates about HK$2.5 billion of additional expenditure to the Employees Retraining Board to increase the maximum amount of monthly allowance for trainees.
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