Arroyo to ask HK not to tax maids

Arroyo to ask HK not to tax maids

HONG KONG: Philippine President Gloria Arroyo will send a leading diplomat to Hong Kong next week to lobby against the a new tax on foreign maids, a report said on Thursday.

Arroyo will send foreign secretary Blas Ople to deliver a letter to chief executive Tung Chee-hwa outlining reasons why the government should not impose a HK$500 (US$64) monthly levy on foreign domestic helpers.

Arroyo's labor minister Patricia Sto Tomas, told the South China Morning Post from Manila: "The levy is unfortunate because there is a minimum taxable level in Hong Kong. That being the case, why is the levy only being imposed on domestic helpers, be they from the Philippines or elsewhere?"

Tomas added that if Hong Kong authorities decided to impose a wage cut on new contracts, "we will study our options to find out if we still want to send our workers to Hong Kong."

Liberal Party chairman James To has proposed the $500 levy be charged on the employers of foreign maids and also suggested slashing their minimum wages by the same amount to $3,170.

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