MAID LEVIES (Tax rebates for singles)

Ms Braema Mathiaparanam asked the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance (a) what is his Ministry's rationale for excluding singles, who have maids in their employment, from enjoying tax rebates on maid levies; and (b) whether his Ministry will consider reviewing this policy to help singles who employ maids to look after their elderly or siblings.

The Second Minister for Finance (Mr Lim Hng Kiang) (for the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance): Mr Speaker, Sir, foreign maid levy tax relief has the specific objective of encouraging women to continue working after marriage. The relief is hence not available to singles.

The Government does help singles who look after their parents. All taxpayers, regardless of whether they are married or single, can claim parent relief if they are taking care of their parents. The relief is $5,000 if the child is staying with his parent or $3,500 if otherwise.

The Government also recognises the additional burden on children taking care of handicapped or bedridden parents. As announced in the Budget Statement 2002, an additional handicapped parent relief of $3,000, on top of the existing parent relief, will be introduced with effect from Year of Assessment 2003.

As for taxpayers who take care of their handicapped siblings, they can claim $3,500 handicapped sibling relief regardless of their marital status.

Ms Braema Mathiaparanam: Sir, can I ask the Minister whether there is a disparity if a married person is looking after an elderly person, employs a maid and gets tax relief versus a single person? It seems there is a disparity. Would the Minister like to comment, please?

Mr Lim Hng Kiang: Sir, as I said, the foreign maid tax relief is to encourage women to continue working. As long as the person is married and is working, she can claim the relief. Whether the maid is used to look after parents, children or family, we do not really bother. The criteria are that the person must be married and must continue working, and the relief will be granted.

Ms Braema Mathiaparanam: The question is about singles. A single person could be a case where he or she cannot go to work unless he or she has a maid to look after an elderly parent. Should this not be equally applied irregardless of status?

Mr Lim Hng Kiang: Sir, as I said in my reply, if the singles need to look after handicapped parents, there are other forms of reliefs. It is not that these reliefs are not available to singles. If the single person wants to work, she can claim relief under handicapped parent relief. Or if she has to look after siblings, she can claim relief under handicapped siblings. But this maid relief is a misnomer. It should be called married woman's relief. Then things will be clear.

Ms Irene Ng Phek Hoong (Tampines): Sir, a point of clarification. A single divorced woman can claim maid relief. But a divorced man is not entitled to claim maid relief. What is the reason for this?

Mr Lim Hng Kiang: Sir, we look at such cases and we try to be as sympathetic as possible.

Ms Braema Mathiaparanam: Sir, I have to go back to it. I still see a disparity between being single, wanting to work and getting a maid just to look after an elderly person or sibling. Why can the single person not enjoy tax relief for employing a maid for that very purpose? Sir, I am sorry but I have to get back to it.

Mr Lim Hng Kiang: Sir, obviously, we are not communicating. If you are single and you want to work, there is no problem. Go and work. If you are married and you want to work and you have responsibilities with the family - whether looking after the house or looking after children - this is where the maid relief comes in. If you say that you need a maid to look after handicapped parents or handicapped siblings, as I said, there are reliefs too. If you are single and want to work, nobody is stopping you from working.

Dr Mohamad Maliki Bin Osman (Sembawang): Sir, I think the issue is that if the woman is married ---

Mr Speaker: What is your question, Dr Maliki?

Dr Mohamad Maliki Bin Osman: Is there a differentiation in terms of what a married woman gets and an unmarried woman gets? The woman who is married gets double relief, meaning that she can also claim relief for looking after her elderly parent as well as employing a maid. Whereas the person who is single does not get double relief.

Mr Lim Hng Kiang: Yes, if you are married, you get the extra relief. So if you want to get the relief, get married.