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Lowtax
Network Content Update | Issue XXXVI | 29 May 2008 |
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Dear Colleague, This week:
I hope you find this update useful. Please remember that you can customise your mailing preferences by visiting your own profile page to choose from 29 offshore tax and law subjects in order to receive just the information you want. You can also unsubscribe completely by following the instructions at the bottom of this page. Kind regards, |
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Offshore
Hong Kong Was A British Colony . . . Hong Kong is a former British colony in South-East China, near Canton and Macau. With a surface area of 404 sq miles, Hong Kong is densely populated with 7m people. The capital city at Victoria, on Hong Kong Island, boasts one of the world's finest natural harbours. Hong Kong has one of the world's busiest international airports. Mean January and July temperatures are 16° C and 28° C respectively. 90% of average rainfall of 85 inches falls between April and October. Typhoons occur between July and October. Chinese and English are the official languages of Hong Kong. 99% of the people are ethnic Chinese. About 10% of the population are Christian with the balance being followers of Buddhism or Taoism. The major non-Chinese elements of the population are from the Philippines, British Commonwealth countries, the USA, Portugal and Japan. . . . But Is Now Again A Part Of China Since 1st July 1997 Hong Kong has been a special administrative region (SAR) of the People's Republic of China. The constitution is known as the "Basic Law" and is modeled on the constitution of the People's Republic. Under the guiding principle of "one country, two systems" which was established before the handover the Chinese Government agreed that Hong Kong's capitalist system would remain unchanged until the year 2047. The SAR's administration is headed by a Chief Executive, appointed by China. The Chief Executive appoints the Executive Council of Government. A legislative body, the Legislative Council passes laws and controls expenditure; its members are elected but the arrangements are undemocratic, so that the Executive can control a majority. This arrangement, established by the British, has not been changed since the handover. The SAR maintains a common law system; the regulation and taxation of business and financial services follow Western patterns. Learn more in our full Hong Kong Knowledgebase. |
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Offshore
Ireland Is In The EU . . . Ireland is one of the 15 Member States of the EU, and who could deny that membership has been a blessing for it, so far at least? From being one of the lame ducks of Europe, Ireland has reinvented itself as the fastest-growing EU state, the future centre of EU e-commerce, and a thoroughly communautaire country unlucky enough to be separated from the continent by the euro-sceptic British. Ireland held the Presidency of the EU for the first six months of 2004. . . . and Ireland is offshore. Perhaps only the Irish imagination could successfully have combined full-hearted membership of the EU with a piratical determination to out-Jersey the tax commissioners of the Western World; but they seem to have succeeded. Ireland has a population of more than 4m, of whom over 1m live in Dublin, the centre of government and business. Ireland is a parliamentary democracy with two houses of parliament, the Dail and the Seanad. Executive Government is led by the Taoiseach (prime minister). There is a separate Judiciary and a largely honorary President. The climate is temperate; average temperatures 15 C (summer) and 5 C (winter). Until 2002 the currency was the punt, IR£, which was a member of the European Monetary System since it began; Ireland then adopted the euro, which began to be used on the street in 2002. Its introduction was smooth. The primary language in Ireland is English, and the youthful population is well-educated. The legal system is largely copied from the English common-law system, although the more continental influence of EU law is beginning to be felt. Ireland's economy is still heavily dependent on agriculture, but the Government has made strenuous and largely successful efforts to diversify it through a series of measures to promote foreign investment. The most important ones are the '10% manufacturing rate of tax' which applies quite widely in and out of manufacturing, the Shannon Airport Free Zone and the International Financial Services Centre in Dublin, aimed at banks, insurers, mutual funds and the securities industry. Both Shannon and the IFSC offer 10% tax rates. The year 2000/2001 saw dramatically high growth of 10% for Irish GDP, but the calendar year 2001 resulted in only 5% growth, with 6% in 2002. In 2003 growth fell to only 2.7% but recovered to 4% in 2004 and 4.7% in 2005, rising again to 5.7% in 2006. The most dramatic aspect of Ireland's reinvention of itself in the last five years has been a boom in high-technology investment. Although since 2001 the world-wide high-tech slump has had an impact, Ireland is now the preferred jumping-off point for US high-tech firms entering Europe. Ireland agreed a corporation tax rate of 12.5% with the EU to apply generally from 2003, and has resolved differences with the EU over its 'offshore' regimes in a way that appears highly satisfactory for the Irish. Ireland has become a favoured destination of foreign, particularly American, companies entering the EU market-place, and the new EU enlargement can only reinforce this trend. Learn more in our full Ireland Knowledgebase. |
