The lifestyles he described surely cannot be applied universally to everyone purportedly belonging to the middle class.

Real incomes have risen significantly for the top 10 per cent of income earners, have barely managed to keep up with inflation for middle-income earners and have failed to keep up with inflation for the bottom 40 per cent, which means the purchasing power for the last group has actually deteriorated.

Instead of giving a blanket sum to everyone earning more than $100,000 a year, why not sub-divide this big group so that perhaps those earning more than $150,000 do not get any 'hong bao' as they would already have enjoyed the maximum tax rebate of $2,000.

In the best-case scenario, those in the top 10 per cent of income earners who have seen meteoric pay rises should forgo their 'hong bao' as the money can then be channelled to more deserving people on the lower rungs of the pay scale, as well as the unemployed.

I am sure these high-income earners would not begrudge what to them is an insignificant amount of money.

Maria Loh Mun Foong (Ms)