2009 - 2010 Hong Kong Budget

[Claire ex-ax]

Claire - been reading it too .. damp squid.

Squib... or was that not a typo?!?!

Anyway, the exemption for electric vehicles from First Registration Tax for five years instead of the usual three didn't excite you?

[shri]

Typo .... big time typo. My excuse .. its lunch time.

[shri]

>> exemption for electric vehicles

Thats for the fringe hippie vote. Does nothing for me.

[shri]

The Finance Committee has approved the establishment of an $18-billion Research Endowment Fund, and we will also progressively provide 800 additional places for postgraduate research programmes in three years starting from the 2009-10 academic year.

Atleast it will keep the student / researcher population of GeoExpat happy.

[Claire ex-ax]

"Separately, for public health reasons, I propose to increase tobacco duty by 50 per cent with immediate effect. The duty on cigarettes will increase from around $0.8 to about $1.2 per stick."

But the smokers won't be too happy. Bet the vendors have already bumped up the prices.

[Claire ex-ax]

$6,000 one-off tax reduction for 08-09.

[shri]

Last July the Chief Executive announced a freeze on government fees and charges related to people's livelihood for one year. I have decided to extend the freeze until 31 March 2010.

What does that mean?

[Claire ex-ax]

................

[shri]

What happens if your livelyhood depends on ciggie sales?

[er2]

Atleast it will keep the student / researcher population of GeoExpat happy.

It will increase it... still to hear whether we actually will get any raise.