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FINANCIAL STRUCTURE
Stamp Duty is modelled on the British pattern and fixed duties are charged on various documents. The lowest is 15 cents on bills of lading and receipts, and the highest $20 on deeds. Ad valorem duty on various other documents ranges from 15 cents on $500 to $2 on $100. A special duty at the rate of 3 per cent is payable on the first conveyance of any parcel of land after September 1948. The estimated yield from Stamp Duty during the current financial year is $70 million.
Substantial revenue accrues from Entertainments, Dance Halls, Bets and Sweeps Taxes, and it is estimated they will yield $57.5 million during the current year. Entertainment Tax is charged on the price of admission to places of entertainment, the rate varying with the amount charged but averaging about 22 per cent. Certain types of entertainment given for charitable or educational purposes are taxed at a lower rate or may be exempt. Public Dance Halls Tax is a levy of 10 per cent on all dance halls charges. Bets and Sweeps Tax imposes 71 per cent on totalizator receipts and 25 per cent on cash sweepstake receipts.
Every business carried on in the Colony, except one which is not carried on for the purpose of gain or one which is carried on by a charitable institution, must be registered and pay annually a registration fee of $25. Where the business is very small the Commissioner may exempt it from the fee. These fees are expected to yield approximately $24 million.
CURRENCY
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When Hong Kong was founded in 1841, China's currency was based on uncoined silver. The normal unit for foreign trade through- out the Far East was the Spanish or Mexican silver dollar. By a proclamation of 1842, Mexican or 'other Republican dollars' were declared to be legal tender in the Colony although government accounts were kept in Sterling until 1862. There were several un- successful attempts to change the monetary basis from silver to gold.
A mint was set up in 1866 and produced a Hong Kong equivalent of the Mexican dollar, but the new coin was unpopular and the mint closed down two years later. The machinery was later sold to establish the first modern mint in Japan.