xiāng gǎng香港dú lì独立méi tǐ媒体miàn lín面临bù不hé lǐ合理de的shuì wù税务yāo qiú要求
Recently, some independent media outlets and journalists in Hong Kong received tax bureau notices demanding additional tax payments.
These notices require them to pay back taxes on income from several years ago; some were even asked to pay taxes for companies that had not yet been established.
The chairman of the Journalists Association, Zheng Chuheng, said these tax demands often lack supporting evidence, causing great distress to the media and journalists.
They need to spend a lot of time and effort searching for old financial records to prove their income.
Many people feel that such actions might be intended to suppress the media.
Press freedom in Hong Kong has been decreasing in recent years, with some media outlets forced to shut down.
Currently, Hong Kong ranks very low in the world press freedom index.