2月11日，隨著香港《2005年收入（取消遺產(chǎn)稅）條例》正式生效，從1915年開征的遺產(chǎn)稅在特區(qū)成為歷史。按照香港原來的法律規(guī)定，如果財(cái)產(chǎn)擁有者在港資產(chǎn)超過750萬港元，去世后就要交納遺產(chǎn)稅。取消遺產(chǎn)稅，首先留住了香港的資金，遺產(chǎn)受益人無需繳稅，以此更好吸引海外投資者將資產(chǎn)轉(zhuǎn)移到香港，使香港成為國際資產(chǎn)管理中心。目前，取消遺產(chǎn)稅已經(jīng)是全球趨勢(shì)，美國也決定在2010年前取消遺產(chǎn)稅。

外電報(bào)道如下：The Revenue (Abolition of Estate Duty) Ordinance 2005 ["the Ordinance"] comes into effect on 11 February 2006.

"There were changes in circumstances sinceEstate Dutywas first introduced in 1915," noted Mr Chan, a partner at E&Y, adding that the original objective of the tax when brought in was to "enable the whole community to benefit upon the death of persons who had grown very rich partly through the appreciation in value of assets and the progress of Hong Kong to which the whole community contributed. "

外電中，estate duty就是"遺產(chǎn)稅"。Estate在我們?nèi)粘Ｋf的real estate（房地產(chǎn)）中，指"the nature and extent of an owner's rights with respect to land （地產(chǎn)權(quán)）"；而在報(bào)道中出現(xiàn)的Estate側(cè)重強(qiáng)調(diào)"the whole of one's possessions, especially all the property and debts left by one at death（死者留下的全部的遺產(chǎn)，包括財(cái)產(chǎn)和債務(wù)）。"

另外，請(qǐng)注意duty的用法，duty除了指"責(zé)任，職責(zé)"外，還用來表示"a tax charged by a government, especially on imports（一種由政府征收的稅，尤指進(jìn)口關(guān)稅），如：I brought him a Valentine gift at the duty-free shop in the airport（我在機(jī)場(chǎng)的免稅商店給他買了情人節(jié)禮物）。


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