The Hongkong Association of Freight Forwarding and Logistics Limited (Haffa) has welcomed the Hong Kong government's decision to shelve the controversial Goods and Services Tax for now.Haffa had earlier formed a GST task force to study the tax effects on both industry and individual businesses, as part of the nine-month public consultation period with Financial Secretary Henry Tang that started in July. In addition, the association had appointed a professional consultant to raise a number of GST-related issues with the government. Among the many issues concerning Haffa and its members, which were submitted to the Financial Services and the Treasury last week, were the effective loss of Hong Kong's free port status and the detrimental effect the introduction of the GST had in Singapore.
"The initial findings of the Haffa GST Task Force, and of the consultant, strongly indicated the introduction of a GST would have a severely negative effect on the industry and on Hong Kong's position as a major freight forwarding and logistics hub," it said.
"The initial findings of the Haffa GST Task Force, and of the consultant, strongly indicated the introduction of a GST would have a severely negative effect on the industry and on Hong Kong's position as a major freight forwarding and logistics hub," it said.