ESTATE DUTY COLLECTION

Mr Chiam See Tong asked the Minister for Finance if he will state how much estate duty the Government expects to collect in respect of (i) immovable property and (ii) movable property following the recent amendments made to the Estate Duty Act.

Dr Richard Hu Tsu Tau: It is difficult to estimate the amount of estate duty that could be collected following the recent amendments as death occurrences do not follow any pattern and it is not possible to predict which wealth category the deceased would come from. However, if we were to apply the new rates and exemption thresholds to the assessments done in 1995, it would result in the following amounts of estate duty: Immovable Properties $9.7 million Movable Properties $38.8 million