The Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, Mr Christopher Hui, visited the Rating and Valuation Department (RVD) today (May 28) to understand the operation of the department and public services it provides.
Accompanied by the Commissioner of Rating and Valuation, Mr Choi Lap-yiu, Mr Hui toured the Enquiry Counter, Computer Division and Rating Division to chat with frontline staff to know more about their work. He was also briefed on the Property Information Online system and other computer systems.
Mr Hui said, “In the face of the economic downturn and rising unemployment rate, the Government has put in place a wide range of measures to support enterprises, safeguard jobs and relieve people’s burden. Among them, the rates concessions have taken effect, which can certainly help ease the burden of domestic households and provide financial relief to businesses.”
The Financial Secretary announced an one-off rates concessions that benefit about 3.35 million properties in the 2020-21 Budget .
Each domestic tenement is entitled up to $1,500 concession per quarter for four quarters while the ceiling for non-domestic tenements is $5,000 per tenement per quarter for the first and second quarters, and $1,500 per tenement per quarter for the third and fourth quarters.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, over 60% of the bills for rates and government rent were settled by electronic means. Mr Hui was pleased to note that the department’s services were well received by the public and he appealed to the colleagues to keep up their good work for implementation of more services for public convenience.
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