Foreign maids in HK plan fight vs tax

HONG KONG (AFP) – Foreign domestic helpers in Hong Kong are planning a series of initiatives to fight plans to tax them for working in the territory, a spokesman said yesterday.

"We are planning a series of campaigns including dialogues with government officials and political parties proposing" to tax some 240,000 foreign domestic helpers in Hong Kong, said Eman Villanueva, spokesman for United Filipinos in Hong Kong, which led a protest march on Sunday.

"A protest rally will be held again on December 8 to coincide with the International Human Rights day," said Villanueva.

The move follows calls from pro-business and pro-China parties for the government to impose a monthly levy of up to 750 Hong Kong dollars (96.3 US) on the foreign domestic helpers, who earn a minimum monthly wage of 3,670 dollars.

The proposed tax is aimed at swelling Hong Kong’s coffers as the territory faces a ballooning budget deficit, which stood at a record 70.8 billion dollars at the end of September.

Unemployment hit a record 7.7 percent in July.

"It is cruel and inhuman to levy tax on the already lowest paid foreign domestic helpers in Hong Kong," said Villanueva, adding that the workers would have to hand over up to 20 percent of their monthly earnings in tax.

Other residents are entitled to earn 108,000 Hong Kong dollars a year without paying tax.

The majority of foreign domestic helpers, some 155,200, are from the Philippines while others are from Indonesia and Thailand.

A series of large-scale protests earlier this year dissuaded the government from cutting the foreign domestic workers’ minimum wage further.