agree...Originally posted by FireIce:this 60% including students and ah gong ah mas?
or referring to working adults only?
pls note it makes a big diff...............
Makes a big difference but not in the way you expected. With a declining birth rate and a greying population, this group is made up of increasing elderly people who are living longer and need more welfare services, whether it be healthcare, retirement costs or transport needs.Originally posted by FireIce:this 60% including students and ah gong ah mas?
or referring to working adults only?
pls note it makes a big diff...............
It's simple English. 60% of Singaporeans means 6 out of 10 Singaporeans (or that's how the writer of the article phrased it...)...that includes students, the elderly, prisoners and working Singaporeans whose incomes (after legal deductions and tax rebates) fall below the threshold for income tax payment.Originally posted by FireIce:mai act cheem, ans my question........ clarify ur "60% of Singaporeans"
The point is that only 40% of the people eating the pie are bakers. The remaining 60% do not do any baking but are eating an increasingly bigger slice of the pie as their needs increase with age.Originally posted by maurizio13:Simple Economics:
Let's say Manor Bakery (a country) bakes one big pie. The Govt. are the policemen and they tax us, by taking a portion of our pie for providing us protection and safety. The bigger portion they take, the less the bakers will have to eat.
What makes you think that the elderly tend to consume more resources? Is that you assumption or a fact?Originally posted by oxford mushroom:It's simple English. 60% of Singaporeans means 6 out of 10 Singaporeans (or that's how the writer of the article phrased it...)...that includes students, the elderly, prisoners and working Singaporeans whose incomes (after legal deductions and tax rebates) fall below the threshold for income tax payment.
As I said, what is worse is that with an increasingly aging population, the elderly who do not work and pay income tax also tend to consume more resources, thus exacerbating the crunch on the tax payers.
Shen lao ping si...it is a fact of life. Most of your healthcare needs will be in your old age. What is the most common reason for Singaporeans to hire maids? Either babies or the elderely sick.Originally posted by TYING:What makes you think that the elderly tend to consume more resources? Is that you assumption or a fact?
That's why the policemen should think of reducing their portion of pie. If the policemen take less portion, there will be more pies for the elderly. If you tax more from the bakers, there won't be more pies to go around.Originally posted by oxford mushroom:The point is that only 40% of the people eating the pie are bakers. The remaining 60% do not do any baking but are eating an increasingly bigger slice of the pie as their needs increase with age.
Then what is CPF for? Yes, the government do give subsidies which is still from the tax payer money. But isnt the elderly using the tax money that they once paid too?Originally posted by oxford mushroom:Shen lao ping si...it is a fact of life. Most of your healthcare needs will be in your old age. What is the most common reason for Singaporeans to hire maids? Either babies or the elderely sick.
The problem is that many Singaporeans have not put away enough for their old age...
Policemen? What policemen? The cost of government in Singapore is lower than many similar industralized nations.Originally posted by maurizio13:That's why the policemen should think of reducing their portion of pie. If the policemen take less portion, there will be more pies for the elderly. If you tax more from the bakers, there won't be more pies to go around.
The CPF will hopefully cover the retirement needs of the present generation, many older people joined the scheme late and have not put away enough. On top of that, not all of them (eg. housewives) were working.Originally posted by TYING:Then what is CPF for? Yes, the government do give subsidies which is still from the tax payer money. But isnt the elderly using the tax money that they once paid too?
Cost of government is lowest???Originally posted by oxford mushroom:Policemen? What policemen? The cost of government in Singapore is lower than many similar industralized nations.
With more elderly persons eating the pie but not baking it, you will need to bring in more bakers, or the pie will get smaller.
First, I did not say 'lowest' but lower than many similar industralized nations. Read carefully before you shoot. Secondly, you should read newspapers as well before you comment:Originally posted by maurizio13:Cost of government is lowest???
Where do you get your information from???
You don't need to bring in more bakers to complicate the situation, all the policemen have to do is take what is more than enough, not a gross portion.The policemen are not taking more...they are taking less than what others do. The fact is that there are not enough bakers with only 40% of Singaporeans paying income tax and more mouths to fed with an aging population. So we need to hire foreign bakers to make a bigger pie..bakers who can be sent home when they are old and turn from baking to eating.
Simple Equation:
Big Pie = Baker's_Portion + Policemen's_Portion
Reduce the Policemen's portion and Bakers will have more to eat.
Why do you need to bring in Foreign Talent Bakers to complicate a simple equation.
And what makes you think, pray tell, that these elderly actually gets handouts from our dear goverment?Originally posted by oxford mushroom:Shen lao ping si...it is a fact of life. Most of your healthcare needs will be in your old age. What is the most common reason for Singaporeans to hire maids? Either babies or the elderely sick.
The problem is that many Singaporeans have not put away enough for their old age...
The price of government is not lowest and not lower than comparable economies. Take Hong Kong which has a larger population, it has a GDP of 10.4% (The Economist 2005, World In Figures) as a percentage of Total GDP.Originally posted by oxford mushroom:The policemen are not taking more...they are taking less than what others do. The fact is that there are not enough bakers with only 40% of Singaporeans paying income tax and more mouths to fed with an aging population. So we need to hire foreign bakers to make a bigger pie..bakers who can be sent home when they are old and turn from baking to eating.
What is the population of Hong Kong? Have you heard of per capita rates?Originally posted by maurizio13:The price of government is not lowest and not lower than comparable economies. Take Hong Kong which has a larger population, it has a GDP of 10.4% (The Economist 2005, World In Figures) as a percentage of Total GDP.
Which doesn't tell us much about the cost of government. Why does other industrialised economies have higher public spending?
There is a misunderstanding on your part of what the term "Public Spending",
"Public Spending" just means what the government spends on the public, which includes things like medical care, education, government, transportation,
environment, etc. It doesn't just include the cost of government!!!
If you are taxpayer in 1950, you must be still making lots of money in those days. Oh yeah, for your information, there was no Income Tax Act Ch.134 in 1950.Originally posted by oxford mushroom:The CPF will hopefully cover the retirement needs of the present generation, many older people joined the scheme late and have not put away enough. On top of that, not all of them (eg. housewives) were working.
If you were a tax payer in 1950, old people with cancer were given a supply of morphine for pain and told to go home to die. Healthcare was cheap. With escalating healthcare costs, the small amount you paid in your younger days will not cover the cost of modern medicine today. Similarly, the healthcare costs for us when we retire will cost far more than the taxes we pay today (unless we want the high taxes people pay in Scandinavian countries). That's why we need to save for our retirement and plan for future healthcare needs with medical incurance etc.