There will also be an additional 800 publicly-funded places for postgraduate research programmes, to be introduced in phases starting from next year. This will incur additional expenditure of nearly HK$300 million a year.
Health care
In addition, officials will propose health-care supplementary financing schemes to Hong Kong residents later this year.
Mr Tsang said the money, for example, could be injected as start-up capital for every participating Hong Kong resident if the scheme selected is one that requires their regular contributions.
Retirement savings
Hong Kongers who earn not more than HK$10,000 a month will receive a one-off injection of HK$6,000 into their Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) accounts.
The privately-managed MPF scheme was launched in 2000 to help the working population save part of their income for retirement.
The contribution rates are 5 per cent for both the employee and the employer.
Environmental protection
There will also be tax concessions for environmentally friendly commercial vehicles.
Companies which purchase environment-friendly machinery and equipment will also enjoy profits tax reduction for such capital expenditure.
Salaries and corporate tax
This year's budget largely benefits the middle-income group as tax bands are widened from HK$35,000 to HK$40,000.
Salaries tax is lowered by one percentage point to 15 per cent.
There is also a one-time 75 per cent rebate on income tax, subject to a ceiling of HK$25,000.
Corporate profits tax rate is lowered by one percentage point to 16.5 per cent.
To help small and medium enterprises, there is a one-off tax reduction of 75 per cent of profits tax for 2007-08, subject to a ceiling of HK$25,000.
There is also a one-off rebate of 75 per cent of property tax for 2007-08, subject to a ceiling of HK$25,000.
Other goodies
