The Legislative Council passed the termination of consideration of the vacant tax on first-hand buildings. The government resubmitted the draft as soon as October

Political situation

Written by Peng Zhuowei

2020-06-23 20:11

The Legislative Council Committee on Rates (Amendment) Bill 2019 met today (23rd) to continue consideration of vacancy tax on first-hand buildings.

According to Shi Liqian, a member of the Pakatan Harapan Real Estate and Construction Sector, the establishment of a vacancy tax or violation of the Basic Law does not conform to the principles of capitalism. In the end, the chairman of the committee Lin Jianfeng proposed to suspend the work of the committee and the motion was approved. The government needs to resubmit the bill to the Legislative Council for deliberation as soon as possible after the Legislative Council resumes in October.

According to Shi Liqian, a member of the Pakatan Harapan Real Estate and Construction Sector, the establishment of a vacancy tax or violation of the Basic Law does not conform to the principles of capitalism.

A number of lawmakers said on the committee that the government could not clearly explain the effectiveness of the vacancy tax and was worried that the cost of the vacancy tax could not be successfully cooled, and the cost of the vacancy tax might be transferred to the buyers.

With the end of the current session of the Legislative Council, a number of committees have suspended the consideration of bills, including bills on franchised taxis and heated cigarettes.

Li Zhicheng, chief executive of Hong Kong Real Estate, said that the market expected the introduction of a first-hand vacancy tax earlier, prompting developers to speed up the pace of selling end-of-sale units. However, Hong Kong is currently faced with negative factors such as the epidemic situation and the external economy. The policy suspension will help stabilize the property market, help developers to increase the flexibility of future launches, flexibly respond to market demand for home purchases, and reduce the impact of the property market on epidemic markets.

Chief Executive Lin Zheng Yuee announced six new housing policy measures in June 2018, which proposed amendments to the "Rates Ordinance" to impose "extra rates" on vacant first-hand private residential units. The government gazetted in September last year stated that the vacancy tax will be levied in the form of additional rates. The occupancy slips will be issued within 12 months of unsold, and there are first-hand properties that have not been rented out for more than 6 months. Developers need The payable unit should pay twice the value of the rates.

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