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Letters | Hong Kong fourth wave: tax empty shops to bring back jobs, revive economy
- Revitalising the streets with shops that are open for business is an important step to reinvigorating the economy
I refer to your report “Coronavirus: Hong Kong faces new unemployment high, but finance chief warns worse may follow Lunar New Year” (January 17). I speak from the perspective of a retail businessman.
Many shop owners would rather leave their properties vacant instead of letting the premises for a reduced rent. This is because reducing the rent will drag down the property value. As a result, the streets in shopping hotspots such as Tsim Sha Tsui and Causeway Bay have become very empty and dull. The same holds true in other districts as well.
Rents are not generated from these unoccupied shops, so there is less income tax for the government. Entrepreneurs cannot afford the rent unless it is reduced, so new businesses and jobs are not created. Rather, leaving the shops empty means that there are fewer jobs and business activities.
Furthermore, the gloomy atmosphere deters shoppers and lowers their willingness to spend, so it affects and demotivates those stores that stay open. In simple terms, having an abundance of empty stores is highly detrimental to the economic sentiment as a whole.
‘We will die’: Hong Kong businesses demand immediate easing of Covid-19 rules
‘We will die’: Hong Kong businesses demand immediate easing of Covid-19 rules
Hong Kong is experiencing a budget deficit and high unemployment rate. To earn tax revenue and create jobs, levying an empty shops tax could incentivise property owners to let their shops for a reasonable rent.
Revitalising the streets with shops that are open for business is an important step to reinvigorating the economy. The government should seriously consider this solution.
Henry Kwan, Tsim Sha Tsui
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