Hong Kong tax revenue falls by HK$18.2 billion to HK$342 billion amid weak stock and property markets, but rebound forecast next year

“The property market and stock market last year were not very promising and not satisfactory. As a result, the stamp duty collections have greatly decreased,” Tam said.

But he pointed to a “notable increase in property transactions” following “the abolition of all demand-side management measures for residential properties”.

“We see this from the number of registrations in the Land Registry. We also see this from applications for stamping requests to the Stamp Office.”

The recent stock market sentiment was also “quite positive”, he said.

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Authorities scrapped all property market cooling measures on February 28 as part of efforts to help restore the city’s declining fiscal health and in response to appeals from the business community.

Takings from profits tax, which accounted for half of the total revenue in the last financial year, also declined by 2 per cent to HK$170.5 billion in the last financial year from HK$174.2 billion the year before.

But government income from salaries tax, representing 23 per cent of the total revenue, increased by 0.5 per cent from HK$79.5 billion in 2022-23 to HK$79.9 billion last year.

The government estimated total tax revenue would increase to HK$382.8 billion in 2024-25, which included HK$71 billion in stamp duty and HK$279.6 billion in total earnings and profits tax.

Last year, the city also recorded a decline of HK$18.3 billion in tax revenue for 2022-23, as well as a 30 per cent plunge in stamp duty payments.