Hong Kong government officials covet the territory’s status as “the world’s freest economy”, an honour bestowed on it for 16 years running by the conservative, Washington-based Heritage Foundation.
That designation tells only half the story. Hong Kong’s admirers like the fact the former British colony and free port, which reverted to Chinese sovereignty as a “special administrative region” in 1997, taxes very rich people at very low rates. Tax rates on salaries and company profits are set in the mid-teens, with capital gains and inheritances exempt entirely.
