Because it is a former financial center, like New York and London, it still has the same expenditure profile as these 'rich' cities. And if one is working as a businessman, banker or otherwise financial person, one could do very well with a 15% tax rate. But there is indirect and secret taxations ... for the 'public good' and the public health. Don't get sick or even require routine medical attention... for every minute the medical professional spends with you, he could be making an extra buck with someone else.......
And it is so easy to spend money in Hong Kong, that in and of itself is another form of taxation. Buyer beware could not be more true than in the entrepreneurial spirit that is Hong Kong.
Don't get me wrong, there are still some gems to live for in this city, but generally speaking, it is a place where people come to make money, spend money and then move on... even in the interim, like holidays. As I have said here before, people come and 'work', and then split for the holidays ... to their home country or to a foreign destination to vacation ... like Bali or Phuket. Or to take in spas, like Japan, or eat, as in Singapore and KL .....
In this Hong Kong has not changed at all since 1997. It is still the smog filled consumeristic hell hole it always was, second only to Shanghai as an 'entrepot' for China..... 'Money talks, bullshit walks' ... to quote Danny De Vito in a movie, is gospel here....
As a kwai low, I would live here for the fixed exchange rate with the US$. But as a chinese, I am sure there are better places to live in China.....
