Lower taxes and subsidies as Beijing rolls out new measures to Greater Bay Area cities
- Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam announces measures after attending State Council meeting the development of Greater Bay Area
- First of the eight measures will offer more relaxed tax regime to Hong Kong professionals who travel frequently across border to work
Beijing has promised lower taxes and more subsidies for professionals and entrepreneurs from Hong Kong and 10 neighbouring cities that will form the “Greater Bay Area”.
Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor announced on Friday that the central government was rolling out a basket of new measures to ensure greater and easier cross-border integration, after she attended the second plenary meeting of the State Council’s leading group for the development of the Greater Bay Area.
“The meeting has decided that these eight specific measures will be implemented in 2019,” she said. “Vice-Premier Han Zheng also requires the governments of Hong Kong, Macau and Guangdong to put more policies into effect as they become ready later this year.”
The meeting in Beijing was the high-powered group’s first since the central government promulgated on February 18 its long-awaited blueprint to transform Hong Kong, Macau, and nine Guangdong cities into a world-class urban cluster, as well as an innovation and technology powerhouse rivalling Silicon Valley, by 2035.
