Hong Kong moves on vacancy tax bill to target property developers hoarding new flats – as opposition says it’s a distraction from protests
- Bill will target all newly completed flats left empty – unsold and not rented out – for more than six months in a year
- Opposition lawmakers accuse city leader Carrie Lam of targeting developers to divert attention from roiling political crisis
Hong Kong’s embattled government is moving ahead with plans to start imposing a vacancy tax on property developers hoarding new flats, and will submit a bill for vetting by lawmakers when they return to work in October after their summer break.
The vacancy tax, which was announced in Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor’s policy address last year and is seen as a populist measure in a city that struggles to provide affordable housing, would be tabled at the Legislative Council, according to a paper submitted by the Transport and Housing Bureau on Thursday.
It aims to bring the law into effect three months after Legco passes it, but the actual dates are still up in the air.
When it was introduced, the proposal aiming to punish developers for hoarding newly completed flats amid soaring prices was mostly welcomed across the political spectrum, except by pro-business parties. But with anti-government protests sweeping across the city this summer, opposition politicians who first backed the proposal are now hesitant to commit themselves to it.
They may not vote down the bill, which is seen as a measure to improve livelihoods, despite the threat of filibustering. But some have vowed not to make it an easy passage, pointing to its inadequacies.