Comments on: Hong Kong eliminates duties on alcohol

By: Kamila

Kamila — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 06:36:04 +0000

I find it rather disturbing that nobody has even mentioned the negative health impact of lowering the cost of alcohol. I refer specifically to the case of Mauritius which heavily reduced import taxes in 1994 due to pressure from its primary industry – tourism. By 1995 admission to psychiatric hospitals due to alcoholism had doubled (from 1993), by 1996 death rates due to liver disease and cirrhosis had increased by 30%, and by 1997 arrests for alcohol-associated traffic accidents had increased by 23% (Disease Control Priorities Project, WHO). By 1997 the government was calling for alcohol control measures; by the 1999-2000 budget alcohol taxes had increased.

Such outcomes place a huge burden not only on the people who suffer but also on the health system – 560mill HK dollars per year is not the only thing the government is foregoing. I’d love to know if the government considered this when it made its decision.

Does anyone know if such health outcomes research is being/will be conducted?? thanks

By: Chris Devonshire-Ellis

Chris Devonshire-Ellis — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 01:35:58 +0000

The “smuggling cars in giant condoms” underwater, towed behind boats was the way in which Jimmy Lai (now on the run in Vancouver) conducted most of his smuggling in Xiamen. In Shenzhen, years ago, it was so rife that the taxis on the streets openly sometimes were stolen Hong Kong Toyotas (noticable because of the Right Hand drive) and stolen 400cc and above motorbikes from Japan. (you couldn’t get bikes in China higher than that at the time). They even used to advertise them in bars for sale! A few Harleys were doing the rounds too. Ahhh yes…the good old, bad old days.

By: David

David — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 17:22:48 +0000

Start bringing in the cheap booze from HK then. 48,2% is no joke indeed.

For Tom: The HKDNP is for HK. That way it is easy for the customs in HK to seize products that were supposed to have been exported from HK but by the hand of Bacchus found their way to the bars of Mong Kok. In China it will have the HKDNP on it of coming from HK and once smuggled it is hard to distinguish what wine had their duty paid or not.

I remember a boat was seized once on its way to the South of China towing a giant rubber condom filled with bottles of booze. That worked so well that they later even towed whole cars that way. This was during the days cars still had 100% import duty on them. Stolen in HK, new dashboard and steering wheel left and presto! tons of money to be made. Chris will probably know a couple of more of these smuggling cases from the good old days. The smugglers were pretty clever. Smuggling of diesel was also a big hit, that business is still going strong but Diesel versus wine….I go for a bottle of claret.

By: Tom

Tom — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 13:23:12 +0000

I don’t think having an HKDNP sticker on the bottle will deter people in Shenzhen from drinking it if it’s 40% cheaper as a result do you ?

By: Chris Devonshire-Ellis

Chris Devonshire-Ellis — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 08:30:48 +0000

The import tariff on the mainland for wine is 48.2%, made up of Customs duty, VAT and Consumption tax. Thats a rather large incentive to smuggle it in from HK. Ever crossed the border in a car at Lok Ma Chau into Shenzhen recently ? They never check your car – it could have six cases of wine in it…

By: David

David — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 12:08:53 +0000

I thought that mainland China had a lower local duty on wines than HK. Wouldn’t the smugging have been the other way around for consumption of wines? HK has 0% import duty on wines but levies a high local duty on the sale of Tobacco and alcoholic beverages. Therefore in the past smuggling from HK into mainland China was quite common. That’s why your HK imported beers and other beverages have HKDNP on it. Shows it is imported from HK or maybe smuggled. They did this so these beers could not be sold illegally into the local HK market.

Am I wrong?