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Tax Audits Target Hong Kong Journalists, News Outlets as Press Freedom Concerns Intensify - Committee to Protect Journalists
- On May 22, 2025, the Hong Kong Journalists Association reported that at least six independent media outlets and about 20 journalists and their families faced backdated tax audits since November 2023.
- These audits focus on alleged underreported income from 2017 to 2019, but the HKJA stated the claims were unreasonable, contained errors, and lacked sufficient evidence.
- The targeted media organizations consist of outlets such as HKFP, The Witness, ReNews, Boomhead, and InMedia, facing combined back tax claims totaling approximately HK$700,000, while individual journalists and their families have received demands reaching up to HK$1 million.
- Beh Lih Yi from the Committee to Protect Journalists said Hong Kong is adopting tactics used by authoritarian regimes, while the Inland Revenue Department affirmed audits follow established procedures without targeting industries.
- These simultaneous tax investigations underscore rising concerns over press freedom decline since the 2020 national security law, indicating sustained pressure on independent media in Hong Kong.
15 Articles
15 Articles
Tax audits target Hong Kong journalists, news outlets as press freedom concerns intensify - Committee to Protect Journalists
New York, May 22, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply alarmed by multiple reports of “unreasonable” tax audits targeting at least six Hong Kong independent media outlets and around 20 journalists and their families, and calls on the Hong Kong government to end its weaponization of financial and tax measures against the press. The Hong Kong Free Press (HKFP), InMedia, The Witness, ReNews, and Boomhead are among the outlets that ha…
Independent Hong Kong Media Targeted with Tax Audits
In yet another challenge to press freedom in Hong Kong, government authorities have targeted numerous independent media outlets with simultaneous tax audits. Chairperson of the Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA) Selina Cheng shared the news in a press conference on Wednesday. The Hong Kong Free Press (HKFP), which is one of the organizations caught up in the inspection, reported on the wide range of targets, including family members of jou…
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