Hong-Kong Protests

K

KYli

Brigadier
Tyler said:
The farmlands owned by the major Hong Kong tycoons, should now be rezoned into residential lands. These tycoons should be made to make concessions to the government, before they are allowed to build apartments on those farmlands.

Lands around Kai Tak airport should be allowed to be rebuilt with higher density, as the buildings height no longer affects air traffic.
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Those tycoons paid near nothing for those farmland. Rezoning the farmland without proper compensation towards the HK government is like handing these tycoons hundreds of billions. The HK government prefers buying the farmland from the tycoons at thousands HKD per SQ feet but those tycoons refused. They only wanted to pay the HK government a few hundreds HKD per SQ feet to rezone the farmland into residential lands which the HK government would never allow. That's why the Lantau Tomorrow is so important as it is also a bargaining chip with the tycoons.

Most of the best view area of Kai Tak have already been purchased by property conglomerates. It is too late for any major changes. The HK government is planning to have some small changes and build some high rise subsided apartments but isn't enough to make a dent now.
 
T

Tyler

Captain
Registered Member
KYli said:
Those tycoons paid near nothing for those farmland. Rezoning the farmland without proper compensation towards the HK government is like handing these tycoons hundreds of billions. The HK government prefers buying the farmland from the tycoons at thousands HKD per SQ feet but those tycoons refused. They only wanted to pay the HK government a few hundreds HKD per SQ feet to rezone the farmland into residential lands which the HK government would never allow. That's why the Lantau Tomorrow is so important as it is also a bargaining chip with the tycoons.

Most of the best view area of Kai Tak have already been purchased by property conglomerates. It is too late for any major changes. The HK government is planning to have some small changes and build some high rise subsided apartments but isn't enough to make a dent now.
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The government should just charge the tycoons close to market price per sq ft for rezoning, still allowing for building costs and reasonable profits. There are still older areas in Kowloon, near Kai Tak that can be rezoned into higher density residential areas.
 
V

voyager1

Captain
Registered Member
KYli said:
Those tycoons paid near nothing for those farmland. Rezoning the farmland without proper compensation towards the HK government is like handing these tycoons hundreds of billions. The HK government prefers buying the farmland from the tycoons at thousands HKD per SQ feet but those tycoons refused. They only wanted to pay the HK government a few hundreds HKD per SQ feet to rezone the farmland into residential lands which the HK government would never allow. That's why the Lantau Tomorrow is so important as it is also a bargaining chip with the tycoons.

Most of the best view area of Kai Tak have already been purchased by property conglomerates. It is too late for any major changes. The HK government is planning to have some small changes and build some high rise subsided apartments but isn't enough to make a dent now.
Click to expand...
Cant the government just eminent domain them and start grabbing the land. I am sure the gov lawyers can find irregularities when the contracts were signed. Or they can dig into the tycoons tax fillings and search for any irregularities which they will find for sure (if tax filling reach to the 100.000.000 range it is impossible for everything to be done by the book), or change some laws

There are many ways to mess with the tycoons, especially if the gov has China's green light. The tycoon can smell the coffee coming from Beijing and they should try to make a deal so they could at least get something out of it. Or ultimately if nothing works just press some national security charges and have the mainland security bureau to arrest one of them to teach them a lesson.

Nothing is impossible if they truly want to fix the issues
 
K

KYli

Brigadier
Tyler said:
The government should just charge the tycoons close to market price per sq ft for rezoning, still allowing for building costs and reasonable profits. There are still older areas in Kowloon, near Kai Tak that can be rezoned into higher density residential areas.
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The market rate for those farmland if rezone to residential lands is around $10,000 to $20,000 HKD per SQ feet. Those tycoons only want to pay like a few hundreds per SQ feet for rezoning. That's why it isn't going to happen. Greed knows no bound. Those tycoons doesn't want reasonable profits but want enormous profits.
 
K

KYli

Brigadier
voyager1 said:
Cant the government just eminent domain them and start grabbing the land. I am sure the gov lawyers can find irregularities when the contracts were signed. Or they can dig into the tycoons tax fillings and search for any irregularities which they will find for sure (if tax filling reach to the 100.000.000 range it is impossible for everything to be done by the book), or change some laws

There are many ways to mess with the tycoons, especially if the gov has China's green light. The tycoon can smell the coffee coming from Beijing and they should try to make a deal so they could at least get something out of it. Or ultimately if nothing works just press some national security charges and have the mainland security bureau to arrest one of them to teach them a lesson.

Nothing is impossible if they truly want to fix the issues
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Hong Kong isn't called the most capitalist city in the world for nothing. The Hong Kong government doesn't control its judicial branch which are dominated by foreign judges. The chance of the HK government winning in court against these tycoons in the case like this is next to zero.

Beside years ago the HK government bought some land from some small landowners in those area and combine these lands with the government lands to build some high rise in the New territories but the tycoons and the environmentalists and the renters joined force and blocked the HK government. Many college kids all come out in the name of environmental protection and blocked the bulldozer from tearing down those temporary makeshift. In the end, the HK government backed down and abandoned the plan.

The Hong Kong government has been a lame duck ever since the 2004 protest. Nothing got done by them. The Chinese government didn't want to intervene the Hong Kong internal affair back then. It is a big mistake as grievance of inequality and pro-West media, education have slowly brainwashed youngsters and direct their grievances toward the HK government instead of those tycoons who control almost everything in Hong Kong.

Lantau tomorrow land reclamation should be enough to change the balance of the game. As the Hong Kong government would no longer need those farmland. Those tycoons might be forced to sell the farmland before depreciation.
 
D

Dolcevita

Major
KYli said:
Hong Kong isn't called the most capitalist city in the world for nothing. The Hong Kong government doesn't control its judicial branch which are dominated by foreign judges. The chance of the HK government winning in court against these tycoons in the case like this is next to zero.

Beside years ago the HK government bought some land from some small landowners in those area and combine these lands with the government lands to build some high rise in the New territories but the tycoons and the environmentalists and the renters joined force and blocked the HK government. Many college kids all come out in the name of environmental protection and blocked the bulldozer from tearing down those temporary makeshift. In the end, the HK government backed down and abandoned the plan.

The Hong Kong government has been a lame duck ever since the 2004 protest. Nothing got done by them. The Chinese government didn't want to intervene the Hong Kong internal affair back then. It is a big mistake as grievance of inequality and pro-West media, education have slowly brainwashed youngsters and direct their grievances toward the HK government instead of those tycoons who control almost everything in Hong Kong.

Lantau tomorrow land reclamation should be enough to change the balance of the game. As the Hong Kong government would no longer need those farmland. Those tycoons might be forced to sell the farmland before depreciation.
Click to expand...

Because of the unique feature of land issue in HK, the government should just legislate to raise the real estate tax and inheritance tax for farmland to force the tycoon to part with the farmland. They will be forced to sell or convert those farmland to residential to avoid taxes.

No?
 
K

KYli

Brigadier
Dolcevita said:
Because of the unique feature of land issue in HK, the government should just legislate to raise the real estate tax and inheritance tax for farmland to force the tycoon to part with the farmland. They will be forced to sell or convert those farmland to residential to avoid taxes.

No?
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Hong Kong doesn't have inheritance tax or even capital gain tax. It is unlikely to enact one. Beside tycoons don't need to control the farmland directly. Most of the farmland are controlled by intermediaries, corporate, pass through which are structured to avoid any tax. Hong Kong does enact tax on real estate transactions to deter speculation but it isn't enough to dampen the housing prices.
 
D

Dolcevita

Major
KYli said:
Hong Kong doesn't have inheritance tax or even capital gain tax. It is unlikely to enact one. Beside tycoons don't need to control the farmland directly. Most of the farmland are controlled by intermediaries, corporate, pass through which are structured to avoid any tax. Hong Kong does enact tax on real estate transactions to deter speculation but it isn't enough to dampen the housing prices.
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There is time for everything. The government's job is to govern for public good.
 
K

KYli

Brigadier
Dolcevita said:
There is time for everything. The government's job is to govern for public good.
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In the end of the day, what matters the most is the supply and demand equilibrium. Lantau tomorrow is the ultimate solution. When those tycoons find out that their farmlands are worth much less then they would come to the negotiation table to beg for a deal.
 
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