https://www.scmp.com/rss/324619/feed Stefano Mariani is a tax lawyer practising in Hong Kong. He has written widely on Hong Kong and international taxation, and has lectured at Hong Kong University. A member of the Royal Asiatic Society, his academic interests include East Asian history, culture, and identity. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com When I was an undergraduate, I would walk almost daily under the statue of Cecil Rhodes perched atop the University of Oxford’s Oriel College. Now, I am told, Rhodes must fall. Whatever one thinks of Rhodes the man – he is no longer able to speak for himself – his contribution to the university has been immense. His achievement was, in a material sense, towering: both the university and the English-speaking world would probably have been different without him. That he was an enthusiastic... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3113891/hong-kong-should-no-sooner-erase-its-colonial-past-beijing-should?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3113891/hong-kong-should-no-sooner-erase-its-colonial-past-beijing-should?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 15 Dec 2020 22:45:16 +0000 A number of commentators have picked up on the curious case of the US Department of Justice alleging discriminatory admission policies at Yale University. In the language of political correctness, Americans call this practice “affirmative action”. What this means is that if an applicant to the university is a member of a certain group that is demographically under-represented, he or she will be preferred for admission relative to an applicant whose academic credentials are, by any measure,... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3098899/why-us-universities-affirmative-action-policies-are-unfair-asian?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3098899/why-us-universities-affirmative-action-policies-are-unfair-asian?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 26 Aug 2020 13:45:10 +0000 On May 1, Japan inaugurated the first day of the Reiwa era, but in 1868, another era transition brought with it a seismic shift in Asian politics. The enthronement of the Meiji emperor marked Japan’s embrace of Western institutions and modernity, and the emergence of the doctrine of Pan-Asianism, by which Japan cast itself as the natural leader of the East Asian world, arguing that Asia should be for Asians and that the political destiny of Asian countries should be determined free from Western... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/3009497/foundations-east-asian-union-based-shared-culture-and?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/3009497/foundations-east-asian-union-based-shared-culture-and?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 12 May 2019 01:30:05 +0000 Much has been written of late on reforms to the history curriculum in Hong Kong. More ink, still, has been spilled, and more spleen vented, to fuel the interminable history of wars between Japan, China and the Koreas.  Against a backdrop of pseudo-historical assertions aimed at buttressing geopolitical claims, Beijing and other regional powers have sought to entrench both at home and abroad their historical narratives, which are presented as indisputable truth. In Hong Kong, our constitutionally... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/hong-kong/article/2160998/how-teach-hong-kong-history-modest-proposal-open?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/hong-kong/article/2160998/how-teach-hong-kong-history-modest-proposal-open?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 24 Aug 2018 04:02:57 +0000 I am Eurasian. My father’s ancestors, to borrow a Chinese turn of phrase, are buried in the fertile plain of the lower Po valley, in an Italian region best known as the birthplace of balsamic vinegar – and Ferrari. My mother, who was raised in Kowloon City and attended St Mary’s Canossian College, is as thoroughly a Hongkonger as one can be. As peculiar as that admixture is, it was unremarkable from my perspective; I happened to attend schools with Eurasian students and entered a workplace where... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/hong-kong/article/2154101/beijing-pushes-chinese-identity-hong-kong-where-do?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/hong-kong/article/2154101/beijing-pushes-chinese-identity-hong-kong-where-do?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 08 Jul 2018 07:01:01 +0000 Controversies over scarcity of land and slowing social mobility are symptoms of deeper malaise in Hong Kong’s economy. It may not appear evident at first, but income inequality in Hong Kong – among the highest in the developed world – arises in part from an inequality more difficult to quantify: of wealth.  Wealth can be understood as accumulated capital. Assets such as property, investments, collections of antiques, etc accumulate in value, and in Hong Kong wealth is concentrated in the hands... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2144547/how-reviving-hong-kongs-estate-duty-could-help-restore?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2144547/how-reviving-hong-kongs-estate-duty-could-help-restore?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 04 May 2018 03:45:02 +0000 Wednesday’s budget again raised the vexed question on which the future of our city’s public finances depends: whither tax reform? The usual array of middle-class tax breaks are beginning to assume the character of cynical bribes. They represent a short-termist approach to public expenditure, the fiscal equivalent of bread and circuses. Because tax is not an electoral issue in Hong Kong, inasmuch as most residents pay no tax at all, it has been difficult for the government to formulate a clear... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2135195/how-hong-kongs-tax-regime-short-changes-residents?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2135195/how-hong-kongs-tax-regime-short-changes-residents?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 01 Mar 2018 04:01:24 +0000 The idea that tax ­increases be explored to address the ever-widening wealth gap in Hong Kong is no mere talking point – it is plain economic common sense. The focus of reformists in our Legislative Council, however, should not be on raising taxes, but on broadening the tax base. One of the underlying fiscal reasons for the property bubble is that, since the abolition of estate duty in 2006, capital assets are generally not taxed. This means investors can hoard real estate and realise very large... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2098695/hong-kong-needs-radical-tax-reform-addiction-real-estate?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2098695/hong-kong-needs-radical-tax-reform-addiction-real-estate?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 18 Jun 2017 05:33:44 +0000