Property tax incoming?; Help for foreign trade; Li Qiang to visit Germany; Counter-espionage law revisions raise concerns
Summary of the Essential Eight:
Unified registration system of immovable property 不动产统一登记 - The PRC has finally completed a national real estate registration system, as part of a unified immovable property registration system. This is a necessary precondition for imposing a property tax, but its completion does not mean that a property tax is imminent. There is a reason officials have talked about a property tax for over a decade but it never happens, except in milquetoast pilots in Shanghai and Chongqing. A property tax has been politically impossible, too many officials and their family members have properties they can't explain based on their official incomes, and can't afford property tax on based on their official incomes. Levying a property tax will anger everyone who stretched to buy a home and raise calls for more transparency and accountability about how the tax dollars are spent. It might also stymie a small but budding recovery in real estate sales. That said, it is going to…