According to Deloitte China, the government will see a HK$50.3 billion surplus by the end of March instead of the HK$4.9 billion deficit predicted by Financial Secretary John Tsang — not the first time Tsang has made such grim predictions that turned out wrong.
This is mainly due to an HK$18 billion increase in land-premium revenues, much higher than what Deloitte predicted in November when it forecasted only a HK$29.9 billion surplus. The accounting firm called for the administration to use the money and offer a series of tax incentives to relieve middle-class woes, such as waiving 75 percent of the salaries tax and stamp duty deductions to those buying home for the first time.
Good to know that the state of the Hong Kong treasury is not all gloom and doom as Tsang says, phew!
Source: SCMP
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
