United Kingdom 01 (Dec 10 to Jan 12)

[kennynah]

during one of the school fees hike protests... a 18 year old, threw a fire extinguisher from a roof of a building into a heavy crowd ...fortunately, that equipment missed a group of policemen by as near as 1 metre and no one was hurt....

still, the court sentenced this hooligan to a 2 year 8 months hail term....

i think it is a right decision.... way too many such rowdy ah bengs around in this country....particularly around london city...

[kennynah]

fyi...

when you buy a UK property... you first need to pay stamp duty...and depending on the value of the purchase, it ranges from 0-4%...obviously, the higher the purchase price, the more stamp duty one has to pay...

then, when you dispose off the housing asset, the capital gains tax is 18% of the profits less expenses of home improvements, etc..

(from their HM Revenues and Customs website; ie our IRAS equivalent)
Rates for Capital Gains Tax
2010-11

For gains on or before 22 June 2010, Capital Gains Tax is charged at a flat rate of 18 per cent.

The following Capital Gains Tax rates apply to gains after this date:

* 18 per cent and 28 per cent tax rates for individuals (the tax rate you use depends on the total amount of your taxable income, so you need to work this out first )
* 28 per cent for trustees or for personal representatives of someone who has died
* 10 per cent for gains qualifying for Entrepreneurs' Relief

however, if you have bought the housing asset as a "home", which means you live in it, then no capital gains tax will apply.. you keep every penny of the profits...

[peter]

wah, capital gains tax of 18% is very high.
in spore no such tax, better invest in spore then

one possible alternative is to buy the house for the children when they study in UK to get around the tax

[kennynah]

yes...very high...if the housing asset is not seen as a "home", then this capital gains tax will be applied to any profits from sale..

you could buy it and pass it on as a gift to your child/en studying in UK... but this has other tax implications.. one way to get around this taxation issue, is simply to give your child/ren the money and they buy the house as their own to live in...then, it will be tax free and no need to worry about "gift/inheritance" issues...

but so far, i'm not enticed by the profit potential in properties in UK....especially given the various taxes that will apply in purchase and sales... but i'll dig a little further before making any conclusions...

[kennynah]

a note on the weather...

it's a welcome change to a warmer tues and wed this week...where we experienced temperatures of 8 C and ~13C respectively.... i'd never imagined myself saying it's "warm" at such temperatures but it only goes to show that our bodies have a way of acclimatizing to our surroundings...

thurs should see another day of 13C....although, the gloomy sky is expected to maintain a cast over the city...with some continuous light drizzle...

[kennynah]

inlfation is creeping up in UK... BBC started reporting this phenomenon this week....

BoE may be forced to raise IR sooner than expected...

[kennynah]

wah ...heng ah...

i was just at westminster on tues and even walked past downing street....

and today, wed, there is a major students' protest yet again but this time on the issue of Education Maintenance Allowance, as they wait for parliament to vote on this bill which will be announced by 7pm GMT.... police out in full force...and no wonder, i saw a helicopter fly over central london at 4pm...

but then again, i missed the chance to capture some photo shots

[kennynah]

former PM tony blaire was grilled by an Iraq Inquiry panel.... asked about his secret correspondences with the hooligan cowboy...

[kennynah]

having served less than 4 months, the labour shadow chancellor resigned and ....in new chap assume this role... and he is Balls to you...

[kennynah]

you must have read this already....

UK's 4Q GDP contracted 5%; ie -ve 5%

big hoohah here... fingers pointing at current exchequer...who then pointed his finger at the snowy Dec...which only occurred for 2 days....but was sufficient for him to use the bad weather as an excuse...

the joke goes like this...

"the present british politician doesn't like to dwell on issues except about the weather"... wahahaha....super funny...