[김인경의 亞!금융]Hong Kong raises stock exchange tax in 28 years

[이데일리 김인경 기자] Hong Kong, the world’s third-largest stock market, has decided to raise the stock exchange tax (stamp tax) in 28 years. Investors are very dissatisfied, but the Hong Kong government has some corners to believe. It is expected that investors will naturally flow in when Chinese companies whose listings are blocked in New York enter Hong Kong.

Hong Kong raises stock exchange tax in 28 years due to Corona 19

According to Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post (SCMP) and Hong Kong Mingbao, Hong Kong will raise the stamp duty on stock transactions from 0.1% to 0.13% from August 1st. It is the first time since 1993 that the stamp duty has been raised.

The Hong Kong government is planning to offset some of the expenditure by raising the stock transaction tax as fiscal expenditure increases due to Corona 19. Both buyers and sellers of stock must pay stamp duty. If you trade 1 million Hong Kong dollars (140 million won) worth of stocks, you will incur an additional cost of 600 Hong Kong dollars (85,000 won).

Hong Kong has spent 320 billion Hong Kong dollars (45.900 trillion won) to stimulate the economy since Corona 19, but its gross domestic product (GDP) declined 6.1% from the previous year. Not only Corona 19, but also the conflict over China’s unreasonable one-country system (two systems in one country), and the movement of global banks due to the trade conflict between the US and China, the economy is crashing sharply. In this situation, the Hong Kong economy is trying to get money from the stock market, which is’money’. In fact, last year, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange recorded a net profit of 11.5 billion Hong Kong dollars (1.67 trillion won), a 23% increase from the previous year thanks to the global stock market boom.

Naturally, investors are protesting. The Hong Kong Securities Brokers Association said, “It is an action to kill the goose that lays golden eggs.” “The industry has been asking for stamp duty reduction or abolition since 2017, but the opposite action came out.” On the 24th of last month when the announcement was made, the Hong Kong Hang Seng Index fell 2.6% and the stock price of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange fell by 7.8%.

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However, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and the Hong Kong government are in a calm state. A spokesman for the Hong Kong Stock Exchange said, “Although disappointing, we understand that the decision to raise is an important tax source that plays an important role in the government’s tax revenues. We will look at alternatives to maintain the attractiveness of the Hong Kong capital market.”

This confidence is attributable to the expectation that even if the stock exchange tax is raised, investors will also be introduced if the number of companies listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange increases. In addition, funds from mainland China are also buying up the Hong Kong stock market one after another. According to Dongfang Chaipu, the inflow of mainland capital from Hong Kong, which was only 226 billion yuan (39.23 trillion won) in 2018 and 386 billion yuan (67 trillion won) in 2019, reached 840 billion yuan (145.97 trillion won) in 2020. Crossed over.

In addition, as the United States tightened sanctions against Chinese IT companies, Chinese companies are listing in Hong Kong. On the 5th (local time), the Hong Kong Stock Exchange approved the second listing of Baidu, China’s largest search engine company. Baidu, which is already listed in New York, is expected to raise up to $3.5 billion (3.9 trillion won) through the second listing on the Hong Kong Exchange. Ctrip, Pindoudo, and Viribiri are also preparing to list on the Hong Kong stock market.

[AFP제공]