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Singapore's House Tax Hits Home
An increased surcharge the Singaporean government has assessed on most foreign buyers to try to tamp down soaring property prices threatens to rattle Singapore's uneasy relationship with many of its rich foreigners while giving Americans an edge in one of Asia's hottest property markets.
为抑制飙升的房价，新加坡政府决定调高对大部分在该国购房外国人的额外收费，此举有可能给新加坡与许多旅新外国富人间本已不融洽的关系增添新的困扰，同时却会使美国人在新加坡这一亚洲最火爆的房地产市场之一获得购房优势。
This month, the government boosted to 15% from 10% the fee added to the purchase price of residential property bought by many foreign nationals, including the Chinese, who were the second-largest group of foreign buyers last year. In contrast, U.S. buyers don't have to pay the surcharge, thanks to a bilateral trade accord with Singapore.
新加坡政府本月决定，调高对许多在新加坡购房外国人的额外收费，将收费额从购房价的10%调高到15%，在新加坡购房的中国人也适用这一规定，中国人是新加坡去年第二大外国人购房群体。而由于美国与新加坡所签的一项双边贸易协议，美国人在新加坡购房却不需要支付这笔额外费用。
Joy Stevenson, a U.S. native who has lived in the city-state for more than 20 years with her family, bought a two-bedroom condominium this month in a neighborhood close to the Singapore Botanic Gardens for 1.85 million Singapore dollars (US$1.5 million). Under the new 15% stamp duty, a Chinese or Indonesian buyer would have paid US$1.725 million for the same property.
美国人史蒂文森(Joy Stevenson)已经与家人在新加坡生活了20多年，她本月斥资185万新加坡元(合150万美元)在靠近新加坡植物园(Singapore Botanic Gardens)的地方购买了一套两居室公寓房。如果是一名中国人或印度尼西亚人买这套房，因为要付那笔相当于房价15%的额外费用，其购房支出将达到172.5万美元。
U.S. citizens are exempt from paying the fee as a result of a nine-year-old trade pact that requires that U.S. investors be treated the same as Singaporeans. A few other nationalities get the same perk citizens of Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein but most don't, including citizens of Indonesia and Malaysia, countries that in other respects enjoy close economic ties with Singapore.
美国公民之所以能够免于缴付这笔费用，是因为美新两国间一项有效期为9年的贸易协议规定，美国投资者在新加坡可以享受新加坡本国人的待遇。瑞士、挪威、冰岛和列支敦士登等其他几个国家的公民也可享受这种待遇。但大多数在新加坡的外国人与这一待遇无缘，其中也包括印尼和马来西亚的公民，这两个国家在其他方面与新加坡有密切的经济联系。 |
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发表于 2016-7-11 09:56:40