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The Bill seeks to adjust the rates of stamp duty to bring relief to home buyers at the lower to middle end of the market, including those who purchase Home Ownership flats or Sandwich Class Housing Scheme properties. Specifically, it increases the limit below which only the nominal fee of $100 is charged from $500,000 to $750,000. The rate of 0.75 per cent will apply to properties with a value of $750,000 to $1.5 million; the rate of 1.5 per cent will apply to properties with a value of $1.5 million to $2.5 million; the rate of 2 per cent will apply to properties with a value of $2.5 million to $3.5 million; and the threshold at which the maximum rate of 2.75 per cent begins to apply will be raised from $3.0 million to $3.5 million.
Mr President, with these remarks, I commend the Bill to Members.
End
Motor Vehicle (First Registration Tax) (Amendment) Bill 1996
Following is a speech by the acting Secretary for the Treasury, Mr Alan Lai, in moving the second reading of the Motor Vehicle (First Registration Tax) (Amendment) Bill 1996 in the Legislative Council today (Wednesday):
Mr President,
I move that the Motor Vehicle (First Registration Tax) (Amendment) Bill 1996 be read the second time.
The Bill seeks to enable the Commissioner for Transport to set by regulation the maximum value for tax exempted items, i.e. exempted accessories and distributor's warranty, in respect of different levels of taxable value of vehicles so that the value of these items in excess of the maximum value would become taxable. This will tackle the problem of over-declaring the value of the tax exempted items as a means to reduce the taxable value of the vehicle and therefore the first registration tax payable. We will consult the vehicle trade on the appropriate level of the maximum value of the various tax exempted items before we introduce the regulation, which will be subject to the scrutiny of this Council in the usual manner.