Thursday, February 28, 2008

You mean, they can go down?!

Hong Kong posts record surplus, unveils tax cuts, other concessions

HONG KONG (Thomson Financial) - Hong Kong on Wednesday posted its highest budget surplus on record for the year to March and unveiled tax relief measures to spur the economy in the coming year amid rising inflation and slowing global growth...

...[Financial Secretary John] Tsang said the government will cut income tax to 15 percent from April from the current 16 percent, while reducing corporate profit tax to 16.5 percent from 17.5 percent.

Tsang also said he is also waiving 75 percent of income taxes this fiscal year with a ceiling of 25,000 Hong Kong dollars, a move that will cost the government 12.4 billion dollars, but benefit 1.4 million tax payers.

Tsang offered other tax concessions, including waivers on taxes for property and alcoholic beverages. These concessions will put a dent on revenue for the coming fiscal year.


Read the entire article here.


Hong Kong regularly tops the Heritage Foundation/ Wall Street Journal Index of Economic Freedom, just as they do this year. Click on over and see how the US compares. We actually moved up this year.

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