This undated file photo shows the Zhuhai section of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge in Guangdong province. (PHOTO / CHINA DAILY)

HONG KONG – The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government will promote the flow of manpower in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area to boost the labor market in the city, Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury Christopher Hui Ching-yu said on Wednesday.

In a written response to a question from lawmaker Shiu Ka-fai about a decrease in the number of tax returns and taxpayers, Hui said the government had launched a series of proactive measures to attract talents in the region.

A total of nine mainland universities, including the Sun Yat-sen University in the GBA, were included in the aggregated list of the world's top 100 universities under the newly launched Top Talent Pass Scheme coordinated by the Labour and Welfare Bureau, Hui said.

The government will continue to enhance Hong Kong's role as a gateway to the GBA and overseas talents, and explore with the Guangdong provincial government ways to strengthen cooperation to develop a talent cluster in the GBA and promote high quality growth at both regional and national levels, said Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury Christopher Hui Ching-yu

Graduates of these universities, whether located in the GBA or not, could come to Hong Kong through the scheme for work or to explore opportunities, he said.

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The Immigration Arrangements for Non-local Graduates was also extended on a pilot basis to cover graduates of the campuses of Hong Kong's higher education institutions in the mainland cities in the GBA, to attract outstanding talents from these institutions to work in Hong Kong, Hui added.

The government will continue to enhance Hong Kong's role as a gateway to the GBA and overseas talents, and explore with the Guangdong provincial government ways to strengthen cooperation to develop a talent cluster in the GBA and promote high quality growth at both regional and national levels, Hui said.

Meanwhile, the secretary said the revenue from salaries tax in the past five financial years increased from HK$60.15 billion ($7.68 billion) in 2018-2019 to HK$75.57 billion in 2021-2022 although the number of individual tax returns issued dropped from 3 million to 2.7 million during the same period.

A number of reasons could be attributed to the salaries of some taxpayers falling out of the tax net as their incomes went down due to global and local economic conditions.

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On the other hand, others who had low incomes did not need to pay taxes as they benefited from the 100 percent tax reduction, while some taxpayers did not have income sourced in or derived from Hong Kong due to various reasons, he added.