Chinese Teabaggers

[Joanne98]

Rich Chinese Communists Channel U.S. Tea Party in Tax Debate

March 16 (Bloomberg) -- Zong Qinghou, China’s richest man, says a property tax will hurt homeowners. Wang Jianlin, the 16th wealthiest, agrees. Lu Guanqiu, No. 19, says China isn’t ready for such a levy.

Their financial clout, a combined $12.4 billion according to Forbes magazine’s latest ranking, packs a political punch. They are members of the Communist Party and delegates to China’s parliament or its political advisory committee. Their concerns about the tax, which the government might adopt in the five-year plan beginning 2011, are shared by many Chinese investors and homeowners.

“A property tax isn’t appropriate,” Zong, 64, chairman of beverage company Hangzhou Wahaha Group Co., said in an interview. “Now everyone already pays monthly management fees, so it would just add another burden.”

Call it a nascent Chinese Tea-Party movement, after the self-described U.S. activists who protest the spending and taxation policies of President Barack Obama and Democrats who control Congress. The groups take their name from a 1773 Boston protest by supporters of independence from Great Britain.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=awTrP2z2e1W4&pos=10