Hong Kong ’returns to black’. But the operating surplus includes income raised by issuing bonds, which of course are loans that have to be repaid with interest. Net that out, and they’re HK$100 billion in the red. But they’re still chucking it around anyway.
On to the details… What two things does Hong Kong need most? If you answer a) a new light show and b) more tourists – well done! (Should tourism promotion really belong in an annual government budget? If it’s going to cost the taxpayer money – the HK Tourism Board is getting HK$1.6 billion – then I guess so.)
The 2026-27 budget speech is all here. Here are around half the subject headings, selectively edited to highlight the buzzwords, BS, hype and (a dozen) hubs…
Proactively (no less) aligning with the PRC’s Five-Year Plan This is there to remind everyone that we are a part of China, in case you hadn’t noticed….
Being an international financial centre, Hong Kong will drive “Finance+”, capitalising on our financial sector to better serve the real economy and industries with competitive edge, and pressing ahead towards mutual empowerment of finance and I&T. In so doing, we can leverage our strengths to serve the country’s needs…
Not sure what that means. But rest assured that the purpose of Hong Kong’s international financial centre will continue to be to make money. For itself.
AI Obviously.
Synergising with Market Forces to Accelerate Innovation and Technology Development Remember the Lok Ma Chau Loop? Now called the Hetao Hong Kong Park, plus San Tin Technopole – trendy-buzzword industrial parks. The ‘synergising’ is about urging landowners to rent space to trendy buzzword industries elsewhere in Northern Metropolis-Land. (My spell-check is OK with ‘synergising’, so it must be a word.)
Patient Capital is a thing – basically long-term investment in nice things that won’t make much money…
In addition to seeking medium- to long-term investment returns for our fiscal reserves, the HKIC aims to bring in more frontier technology enterprises and patient capital to Hong Kong, as well as promote in‑depth collaboration among the Government, industry, academia, research institutes and investors. It also aims to accelerate the establishment of Hong Kong’s I&T ecosystem and the development of strategic industry chains. All these will enhance our competitiveness and contribute to the diversified development of our economy.
Are the civil servants who write this paid by the word?
Regional Intellectual Property Trading Centre Desperately trying to think of something we can be a hub for, and something that isn’t tourism.
International Hub for High calibre Talents Would ‘cluster’ be a better word? Or ‘magnet’ – at least ideally? On top of a classic East Asian collapse in the birth rate, Hong Kong has seen a significant outflow of young skilled people. Solution: replace them with Mainlanders. Problem: many of the Mainlanders plan to move on to other parts of the world.
Integrated Development of Culture, Sports and Tourism But not necessarily in that order…
To support “tourism is everywhere” and promote “urban-rural integration”, we propose allocating $200 million for launching the “NM Urban-rural Integration Fund” as a pilot scheme. The scheme aims to encourage non-governmental organisations and relevant bodies to take forward rural tourism projects and bring economic vitality to rural villages.
The tourism bureaucrats who really hate beaches obviously hate those villages too. Have you tried ‘tourism is nowhere’?
Green Finance, Green Tech, Green Blah Blah Whatever happened to Islamic banking?
Meanwhile, last year’s JoyYou Card restrictions against the elderly will start in April.
Rural tourism: HK city folk go to some shitty village, pick fresh strawberries or lychee, pay by the kilo, eat villager prepared anorexic roast chicken, trudge to the car park to go home. And I wouldn’t count on mainlanders to be the target audience as all this is already done on steroided levels up north and that’s not what they go to HK for.
Synergise!!
The green revolution has been canceled due to boredom.
Evidently, Greenpeace and the HKSAR government didn’t get the memo.
I am not excited about the government announcing that they are going to be studying taxation of digital assets. I made a nice profit off crypto last year and also off the big crash the past few weeks. I don’t intend on leaving this game anytime soon and don’t want to pay taxes not even a stamp duty and definitely not a capital gains tax.
It’s a high risk activity and I don’t went to pay tax on that shit. I funnel in my profits into property and pay tax / duty there and that should be enough.
The ‘relevant bodies’ are back!
We missed you guys.
If I were a cunt, I would probably keep it to myself.
Nobody wants to pay taxes, whinger. Why should your crypto trades be more deserving of exemption than the wages of the average salaryman? Unless you think society should discourage work and encourage faffing about with imaginary assets.
“ Why should your crypto trades be more deserving of exemption than the wages of the average salaryman? Unless you think society should discourage work”
Salaryman takes no risk. They pay a tax because they are guaranteed protections under labour law. It’s called a win-win. Nobody is trying to discourage work.
Likewise paying taxes in the property market is reasonable too. In exchange for that you get an orderly and predictable market. Again it is a win-win to pay taxes for property.
Crypto has none of these kinds of government benefits. It’s an “anything goes” environment with massive risk. The government should back off and be more fiscally responsible instead of taxing a new industry. The government has themselves to blame for their zero covid deficits.
This is Hong Kong. People come here because it is a tax haven. If HK wants to lose out o Singapore and Dubai then yeah tax crypto.
I’m just wondering what any of the “Green Development” topics has to do with actually protecting our fragile environment?