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HONG KONG ANNUAL REPORT
varies from 10 cents per $500 to $2 per centum. In addition an excess duty of 3% on conveyances of land is payable in respect of the first sale after September 1948. The estimate for this item of revenue for 1957-8 is $23,500,000.
Entertainment, Public Dance Halls, Bets and Sweeps Taxes also provide substantial amounts of revenue, the total estimate for 1957-8 amounting to $22,500,000.
Entertainment tax at approximately 22% is normally charged on all admission prices to public places of enter- tainment (for tax reductions on live performances of special cultural or artistic value, see pages 311 312 of Chapter 20). Public Dance Halls Tax is levied at 10% of public dance hall charges, while a 5% duty is imposed on all totalizator receipts and a 25% duty on cash sweep receipts.
Business Registration was introduced in 1952 to provide for the compulsory registration of all business names. An annual registration fee of $200 per business is payable. Depending on the nature and extent of a business, a remis- sion on the ground of hardship may be allowed.
Rates have been levied in the Colony since 1845 when an Ordinance was passed to raise an assessed rate on lands, houses and premises 'for the upholding of the requisite Police Force'. Today rates are one of the largest revenue-producing items, the revised estimate for 1957-8 being over $64,000,000.
The basis of rateable value is the annual letting value of a tenement, by which is meant any land or any building or part thereof held or occupied as a distinct or separate tenancy or under licence from the Crown.
Rates are levied in Hong Kong Island, Kowloon, New Kowloon and also in that part of the New Territories adjacent to the main road from Lai Chi Kok to Castle Peak.
In Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and New Kowloon rates are, with a few exceptions, charged at 17% per annum of rateable value, and are payable quarterly in advance: in respect of the New Territories the corresponding charge is
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