Property Committee Presents: DSD: The Dangerous Stamp Duty: Is the Double Stamp Duty a Threat to Hong Kong’s Long Term Future

Property Committee Presents:

DSD: The Dangerous Stamp Duty

Is the Double Stamp Duty a Threat to

Hong Kong’s Long Term Future

Date:        Wednesday, July 3rd, 2013
Time:       8:00am – 10:00am
Venue:     The 49th & Terrace 

                    The American Club Hong Kong

                    49/F, Two Exchange Square,

                    Central, Hong Kong

Price:        Members $300/ Non-Members $350
(Breakfast included)

About the Event: 

Double Stamp Duty 

The CanCham Property Committee is proud to provide a platform to debate this important issue and the proposed legislation. The Double Stamp Duty has directly impacted CanCham members and could very well have long-term consequences for the competitiveness of Hong Kong. Join us as our list of prestigious panelists engage in an interactive Q&A and debate the Double Stamp Duty (DSD) legislation.

Is this broad and undifferentiated increase in stamp duty the right approach to cool an overheated property market? What alternatives could be considered? Should amendments to the proposed DSD legislation be made? What long-term impact on Hong Kong might there be?

Background:

The Hong Kong commercial property sales index has more than doubled in the past 4 years. The Government is considering amending the Stamp Duty Ordinance legislation to double the stamp duty on commercial property.

On 22 February 2013, the HKSAR Government announced its 3rd property cooling measure in as many years. The new Stamp Duty Ordinance (Cap. 117) would double the commercial ad valorem stamp duty if passed.

In a stunning turn of events, on 30 May 2013, the Bills Committee which was charged with reviewing the proposed DSD legislation passed a non-binding motion to withdraw the Government’s proposed DSD measures.

On 13 June 2013, CanCham, along with 20+ other organisations, presented its deposition to the Bills Committee on the matter of the DSD. CanCham’s advocacy position letter to the Bills Committee is found here: Position Letter to the Bills Committee 

Moderator: Mr. Andrew Work, Editor-in-Chief, Harbour Times

Opening Remarks: Ms. Emily Lau, Chairperson – Hong Kong Democratic Party

Panelists:

Mr. Vikram Chellaram, CEO of Mordril Properties
Mr. Tommy Cheung, Functional Constituency – Catering for the Liberal Party
Mr. Richard Kirke, Managing Director of Colliers International Hong Kong
Mr. Garry Laird, Senior Tax Advisor of KPMG
Ms. Emily Lau, Chairperson of Hong Kong Democratic Party
Mr. Timothy Peirson-Smith, Chairman, British Chamber of Commerce, Policy Committee
Mr. Jeremy Sheldon, Chairman, British Chamber of Commerce, Property Committee
Mr. David Webb, Founder of Webb-site.com

About the Moderator:

Andrew Work

He has 25 years of experience at the intersection of business, media, and politics. He was the Executive Director of The Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong from 2007 to 2012. Prior to that, he founded The Lion Rock Institute, Hong Kong’s first independent economic public policy think tank. Today it is a recognized voice influencing public policy debate and the public’s thinking on Hong Kong’s future. He has also worked with The Economist Group, Penton Media and Manager Media Group. He worked with The Honorable Tom Siddon’s office on Parliament Hill in his native Canada and began his political engagement at the age of 16.

Opening Remarks:

Emily Lau

Emily Lau Wai-hing is the Chairperson of Hong Kong Democratic Party, HKSAR Government. The former Hong Kong correspondent of Far Eastern Economic Review and Chairperson for Hong Kong Journalists, Ms. Emily Lau Wai-hing was appointed Deputy Chairperson of the China Human Rights Lawyers Concern Group in January 2007. Prior to this appointment, Ms. Emily Lau was appointed as the Justice of Peace in April 1997. She is also the recipient of awards such as the Political Leader Award from the Women’s Foundation, Hong Kong, the Monismanien Prize on Freedom of Speech from the University of Uppsala in Sweden, and the Bruno Kreisky Human Rights Award from the Bruno Kreisky Foundation in Vienna, Austria.

About the Panelists:

Vikram Chellaram

Vikram S. Chellaram is the Chief Executive Officer of Mordril Properties, an independent and privately owned real estate company with investments in Hong Kong, India and the United Kingdom.

Prior to joining Mordril, he served as the Managing Director of KC Maritime FZE in Dubai, UAE, where he led a strategy focusing on dry-bulk shipping logistics in India and the Gulf. Prior to his work in the Middle East, Mr Chellaram was based in New York, where he worked for Bank Julius Baer and Co. Limited in their Asset Management division.

Tommy Cheung

Tommy Cheung Yu-Yan SBS, J.P. is the Functional Constituency – Catering for the Liberal Party and also Chairman for the Hong Kong Catering Industry Association. Mr. Cheung is also involved with The Association of Restaurant Managers as an Honorary Life President, and also serves as an Honorary President for the Institution of Dining Art. Mr. Tommy Cheung is involved with many different committees such as The Association for Hong Kong Catering Services Management, the Hong Kong Wine & Spirits Industry Coalition, and Quality Tourism Services Committee.

Richard Kirke

As Managing Director of Colliers International Hong Kong, Richard leads the 13 local business lines and 2 offices that serve the challenging real estate market of Hong Kong.

Richard is a dynamic and well-established professional in the real estate industry. He originally hails from New Zealand. His background is in the arena of Investment Sales, although the early part of his career was spent in the Industrial Property sector. Over the years, his skills in real estate have been formed through success in many asset classes and roles, as proven in his solid track record in offering complete commercial solutions to clients.

Garry Laird

Garry is a senior tax advisor with KPMG. Prior to joining KPMG he was a tax specialist, initially with the Australian Taxation Office before joining the Inland Revenue Department (IRD) in Hong Kong. Garry joined KPMG in April 2008 from the IRD where he had worked in various capacities. Whilst with the IRD, Garry was responsible for the examination of and making recommendations on advance clearance applications; planning for the introduction and negotiation of double taxation agreements; and assisting in the introduction of new tax legislation.

Timothy Peirson-Smith

Timothy J. Peirson-Smith is the Managing Director of Executive Counsel Limited, a Hong Kong-based communication consultancy, which he founded over 10 years ago and is proudly an SME.

Timothy has pro-bono, chaired the think tank of the British Chamber of Commerce’s, the Business Policy Unit since 2007, and is an elected member of the British Chamber’s Commerce General Committee.

Jeremy Sheldon

Jeremy is the Managing Director for Markets, Asia Pacific at Jones Lang LaSalle. He is responsible for the regional P&L for Transaction Management reporting to the Head of Corporate Solutions. He is also responsible for all transaction service delivery issues, Business Development and Strategy for the transactions businesses, reporting directly to the Asia Pacific CEO. Jeremy also sits on The British Chamber’s General Committee, where he is chairman of the Britcham Real Estate Committee.

David Webb

A Hong Kong resident since 1991, former investment banker David Webb retired in 1998 to focus on his investments in HK-listed small-caps and to establish Webb-site.com, a non-profit platform for better corporate and economic governance in Hong Kong, which now has over 20,000 subscribers to its newsletter, a Webb-site Who’s Who database on HK companies and people, and the Webb-site Total Returns time series since 1994, all free.