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Hong Kong's top taxpayer last year earned at least HK$350 million.

The biggest salaries-tax  payer contributed HK$56 million to the government coffers in the 2006-07 financial year,   a little more than half the HK$101 million that the top taxpayer handed over in 2005-06.

The record salaries-tax payment is HK$117 million, paid in 1994-95.

The top 10 taxpayers contributed  HK$350 million last year, compared with HK$317 million in 2005-06.

None of last year's top taxpayers  was identified, but there is strong speculation the top honour  went to an investment banker,  given the flood of lucrative initial public offerings from the mainland. Chief among them was the listing by China Construction Bank, which raised about US$9.2 billion in November 2005, making it the biggest deal of the year.

Directors of listed companies, including usual suspect Canning Fok Kin-ning,  group managing director of Li Ka-shing's  Hutchison Whampoa, do not appear to be high on the list of top taxpayers.

According to the 2006 Hutchison Whampoa annual report, Mr Fok was paid HK$130.94 million in salary, fees and bonuses. His tax bill is about HK$20 million based on the standard tax rate of 16 per cent, which ranks him number seven or eight on the  list.

Bank of East Asia chairman and chief executive David Li Kwok-po,  the highest-paid head of a Hong Kong bank, earned just over HK$27 million, meaning his salaries-tax bill was HK$4.32 million.

Standard Chartered Bank economist Tai Hui  said identifying the top taxpayer was difficult, especially with the ability to exercise stock options. 'Stock markets are up; incomes are up,' Mr Hui said. 'Taxes paid by the top 10 rose about 10 per cent year on year, which is an appropriate wage increase for high-end jobs.'

The person who paid the most salaries tax may not have been the highest earner, since  some sources of income, such as dividends paid on shares, fall outside the tax net. Tycoons often opt for nominal wages but reap billions from dividends.

The biggest profits-tax bill paid in 2006-07 was just over HK$2 billion, down from the HK$2.54 billion recorded a year earlier. The top 10 companies paying profits tax last year contributed HK$11.19 billion to government revenue, short of the previous year's HK$11.72 billion.



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Top salaries-tax bill HK$56m - who paid it?

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