The Capitalist Chinese

This is an excerpt from Agora Financial's 5 Min. Forecast from2/25/2010.  Who woulda thunk?  As we get mired further into tax on this and tax on that.  I can vouch for the part about the airports---the new airports at Shanghai and Shenzen are architectural masterpieces.

A4 Driver

All of this weighs on our mind as we evaluate something we encountered on a private message board we belong to from someone who’s lived in China for 12 years. “What people fail to grasp,” this individual writes, “is this place is much more capitalist than the States now:
· No capital gains tax
· No property tax
· No local or state taxes
· A reasonable 35% tax rate for the highest earners
· Corporate tax rates of zero percent for 3 years and 15% per year after that.
“Also, most importantly, it’s not a casino economy like the States. China will sell 30% more vehicles this year than in the U.S. 93% of those vehicles will be purchased cash upfront.
“For a home loan, you need 30% down. As a private business, to get a loan you have to put up the assets of the company, i.e., plant and equipment. There are no leverage games here.
“It's a one-party state, but at least it is focused on its own people. We have a two-party system that has sold us down the river. All the Asian Tiger economies needed a strong central government to launch themselves out of poverty. Not a good system for our culture, but it works for them.
“High-speed train systems going on line, 50 new airports in that last five years -- you must see this place to believe it.”