The support measures presented by the Secretary for Economy and Finance to address the taxation of work income are likely to have a negligible effect on most local residents, according to economist Albano Martins.
Announced by Secretary Lei Wai Nong, the measures include a 70% rebate on 2018 professional income taxes with a maximum rebate of 20,000 patacas, and an increase in the standard deduction on taxable income granted under the Professional Tax Law from 25% to 30%. These two measures may benefit as many as 170,000 and 180,000 residents respectively, according to Lei.
Economist Martins does not refute the number of people that stand to benefit from the measures, but questions their impact on the general population. He calculates that such benefits might, in the majority of cases, constitute savings of between a few hundred patacas to an estimated maximum of 2,000 patacas.
“All measures that benefit [the people] are always worthy of praise, but for those that are not self-employed, it is no big deal,” Martins said to Hoje Macau, explaining that that taxation for people with “average” salaries in Macau is already very low.
According to the economist, it would be more efficient for the government to simply put an end to taxing those working for a company or entity, as the income that such taxation generates for the government is almost irrelevant.
“The government should end all taxes [paid by workers and companies]. In 2018, these taxes were accountable for only 14 billion patacas, [which is] less than the 20 billion patacas that they are going to forgo now,” he said.
Casino taxes, which were worth 134.2 billion patacas in 2018, accounted for almost 80% of the government’s revenue that year, according to official data.
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