Gov't rent concession ruled out

January 18, 2012

The Financial Secretary cannot impose a government rent concession in the upcoming budget, as the fee is set out in the Basic Law.
 
Secretary for Financial Services & the Treasury Prof KC Chan told legislators today the Basic Law stipulates the obligation to pay government rent for certain properties.
 
The Government has studied the matter and sought legal advice. However, he said it cannot provide any form of concession on government rent for these leases, including injecting funds into government rent accounts or refunding government rent paid, as it must uphold the Basic Law requirement.
 
Rating & Valuation Department records state 1.6 million tenements are currently required to pay government rent. Of these, only 15,600 are required to pay government rent but not rates.
 
He said as the majority of government rent payers have already benefited from rates concessions in recent years, the Financial Secretary will consider alternate measures to relieve economic pressure on the public when forming the 2012-13 Budget.