A recent Internet post claiming a person in Hong Kong making HK$178,000 ($22,890.8) a year only pays HK$729 per month has triggered heated discussion on the internet. The Beijing-based People's Daily said, after investigation, it has determined the amount is authentic.

The report said the young, single Hong Kong resident who claims to have such an income should pay HK$2,900 per month in tax according to Hong Kong tax rates.

Single people in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) are allowed a tax concession for the first HK$108,000 dollars.

So, the 25 percent tax rate should only be charged on HK$70,000 on the level of income the poster claims to make, which means the HK$729 figure is correct. 

Most Web users who responded said they envy Hong Kong residents because of the small tax deduction.

"My annual salary is about 250,000 yuan and I have to pay a tax of some 40,000 yuan," Jia Linguo, an employer of China CITIC Bank in Beijing, told the Global Times Thursday,

"The salary tax rate in Hong Kong ranges from 2 to 17 percent, while on the Chinese mainland, the range of individual income tax is from 3 to 45 percent," Chen Shaoke, a taxation policy expert at Beijing Normal University, told the Global Times Thursday. 

However, income tax accounts for a considerable portion of the Hong Kong government's fiscal revenue. 

People who earn less than HK$500,000 are reportedly not the backbone of taxpayers in Hong Kong. There are about 280,000 people in Hong Kong earning more than HK$500,000 a year and this group of people contribute 87.4 percent of income tax revenue, Peoples' Daily said.