Tip of the Day: Avoid Tax, Buy the Company

Now we know how to avoid paying stamp duty, but where to get HK$2 billion?

So it turns out the billionaire who bought the home on The Peak the other day for HK$2.1 billion as saved himself from paying the stamp duty.

Any home worth more than HK$21.7 million is subject to a levy of 8.5 percent.

But Chen Hongtian avoided paying around HK$170 million by buying the company that owns the property.

That way the buyer and seller only pay 0.2 percent levy on the share transfer.

It's a very smart deal, but why does the Hong Kong government allow such loopholes to exist?

That's almost HK$18 million that could have gone to public coffers to help the poor, disabled, elderly and so on.

Oh wait a minute -- the financial secretary would just squirrel all that money for a rainy day.

Just as well these billionaires spared us the extra money...