I have been wondering -is it likely that the next thing after enforcing rental income taxes, the taxman will push for capital gains tax? why should people buy land , do no value addition and hope to sell it at huge profits by just 'hoarding' the land? i suppose land tax on idle land may not work since definition of 'idle' is very subjective. One could plant grass and claim the land is not idle is there capital gains tax in other countries? Is there a risk for those speculating on land that soon 30% of those huge profits will now go to the tax man?

Singapore is another one without CGT>>we learned this courtesy of the Facebook co-founder who is now resident there ---

www.businessdailyafrica....2/-/s0we2wz/-/index.html Is it finally here??

GOVERNMENT TAXES Most of the governments of the world will, in some shape or form, generate revenue from the trading of assets, whatever those assets might be. These taxes take on various guises and can be called by many different names. The following are some examples of how governments raise revenue based on the purchase and sale of securities. 1.3.1 Stamp Duties and Sales or Transfer Taxes • UK – the purchase of securities is subject to taxation. Included in this is stamp duty on the transfer of securities, and stamp duty reserve tax (SDRT) on the transfer of uncertificated (or dematerialised) securities. SDRT was first introduced in 1986. The main purpose of the tax was to cover paperless (dematerialised) share transactions on agreements to transfer ‘chargeable securities’ for consideration in money or money’s worth (Section 87 of the Finance Act 1986). The main provisions are in the Finance Act 1986 and the supporting regulations at SI 1986/1711. SDRT is collected primarily on share transactions that are not drawn up via a stock transfer form (dematerialised transactions) and thus do not fall within the chargeable realm of stamp duty. SDRT now accounts for the majority of taxation collected on share transactions effected through the UK’s exchanges. Stamp duty is paid on share transactions and the transfer of certificated issues at the same rate as SDRT.. • Brazil – there is a governmental tax on the inflows of foreign exchange – the Imposto sobre Operações Financeiras (IOF). Effective from 20 October 2009, investors are subject to a 2.0% IOF tax applicable to foreign exchange inflows related to all purchases of securities instruments. Foreign exchange related to the repatriation of proceeds (outflows) for any type of instruments is not currently subject to IOF. There is also an IOF on the redemption of fixed income. In order to encourage the longer-term holding of fixed income instruments, an IOF tax is imposed if a fixed income instrument is sold or redeemed within 30 days of purchase. An IOF tax is based on either 1% per day assessed on the total amount of the redemption amount, or a sliding percentage (from 96% for one day to 0% for 30 days) of the capital gain based on the number of days between the investment date and the redemption date, whichever is lower. • Argentina – through Law 23.966, the Argentine government created the Tax on Personal Assets. This tax is assessed on specific assets belonging to individual persons, whether domestic- or foreign-domiciled, as of 31 December of each calendar year. The tax rate is 0.5% of the value of the assets. Unless otherwise proved, all entities are considered as individuals. The issuer who has to pay the tax is entitled to recover the expense from the foreign investors (eg, withholding the tax from dividend distributions or claiming money back from the shareholder to reimburse the issuer for the tax burden suffered. • Malaysia – there is tax on any rights issue. An MYR 10 charge is made for any Rights Subscription Form or Rights Renunciation Form for nil paid rights. • Egypt – there is fiscal stamp duty tax of 0.4% per annum on quarter-end overdraft balances which is collected by the Tax Authority. The quarterly rate applied will be 0.05% going forward on all overdraft balances at the end of each quarter. • Hong Kong – there is an ad valorem stamp duty of 0.1% of trade value payable by both buyer and seller. Transactions with no change in beneficial ownership can be exempted by applying to the Inland Revenue. An embossed stamp duty of HK$5 per transfer deed, payable by the first seller, is levied on physical shares. • China – there is a 0.1% stamp duty charge on the gross consideration which is payable by the seller only for A shares and B shares. Funds, warrants and bonds are exempted from stamp duty. • India – stamp duty is payable on registration of physical securities. Stamp duty, at 0.25% of the consideration price or the market rate (whichever is higher), is payable by the buyer when physical shares are sent for registration. Stamp duty on debt instruments varies from state to state. • Indonesia – stamp duty of IDR6,000 is paid on all cash statements, and corporate action voting forms. There is also a sales tax of 0.1% applied on all sale transactions. • South Africa – a duty called the Securities Transfer Tax is levied on all changes of beneficial ownership on trades in listed securities. The rate applied is 0.25% of the consideration.

CGT to equal 15-18% of gains made??