Originally posted by Heartlander:
When you buy a brand new car, the govt will earn more than 2 cars in return in its ARF and COE! I think it's irrelevant to talk or compare GST with other countries. If you are comparing, then 1 Singapore car would exchage for almost 3 cars in Malaysia, more than 2 in the US........
Well, if you drive a car through CTE to the CBD area each day, you would have to fork out at least $5 of gantry charges each trip! Any simple minded Singaporeans would be able to count how much goes to the government's coffer. This is only a few billion the government is earning from these sources, how about road tax, petrol tax traffic fines.... The only blessing that Singaporeans enjoy is a good road system, and those money are partly put to good use and the yearly excess should be channel to other area to alleviate the pains of its people who have been very supportive of PAP. This is my first perception that the government should not increase that GST.
No doubt Singapore has no natural resources to backup its future survival. There are many surviving nations with similar fate. You survival depend on your survival skills. How well you could manage your time, your intangible resources count...Singapore has managed itself well and has built up a sizable reserves of more than US$100billion. Its investment returns should be quite a bit too. Should the government acts in zeal to increase the GST to stress its population further when many are out of job? Even those who are still employed are shaky and unsure when their turn will come, so is this an occasion to budget for a surplus when thousands are still trying to keep their head out of the trouble water?
Many view that new package of cutting the income tax as helping the rich to get richer, and the poor to get poorer. This is especially so in the HDB heartland, where most of the poor and the lower income groups are located. Frankly, many lawmakers or MPs are out of touch with the plight of the heartlanders, you will see the MPs may be during election time or if you are lucky, or if you are average income group, you may be able to rub shoulder with one, once in a blue moon of course! How many HDB heartlander will mourn to you that they are poor, or they are struggling to keep themselves afloat? All human have personal plight and self respect. I, as a heartlander, could only empathise with them as I know and understand them more than those outsiders. Many a time I have stumble across a mini one room flat with more than one families cramp into it, and they are so touch if I donated my old clothes to them. I did not retch at their living condition, I sympathise with their predicament. One would wonder how do these families benefit when they do not even have a chance to pay a cent of income tax when you mention income tax cut for them in return for GST hike, when even an average income worker could not earn enough to match those benefit saved by those big fat top income earners? Take a minister for example, if he earn only $50,000 per month, his yearly income will be $600,000 and his 6% saved on tax cut will come to how much, will it match one of those average Singaporean worker's annual income? calculate for yourself!
Those rich or super rich may hardly contribute to any GST at all, besides enjoying the big fat tax cut. They can afford to shop overseas anytime they wish. The lower income groups have no choice at all, they have no chance to enjoy any tax cut yet they have to pay more for GST when they shop locally. They will be negatively affected first before they can ironically enjoy the possibility of more jobs created for them. If you talk about corporate tax cut, there may be a posibility. As the lower tax will boost companies's earning, so more foreign company will have preference to take Singapore as their base. As for individual, if a profitable company can pay them well, what is another 6% of personal income tax, it may be just peanuts!
Any sane and poor Singaporean do not vote for a system to further impoverish themselves, as they always believe in PM Goh words of more good years ahead and NOT more miserable years ahead. No matter how much the subsidies the government fork out, it may not be able to compensate the long term impact for those poor heartlanders, let alone this worst than expected economic downturn! And do'nt forget that continuous subsidies may create a helpless citizenry, who will always look to the government to spoon feed them. Take a closer look at the welfare system in the west and the bumiputra first in Malaysia, and you will realise how those systems will stagnate the progress of a nation and increase the sensitivity level of each individual who refuse to work for progress, but envious of others' wealth and prosperity.
Is Singapore prepared to continue to hand out those subsidies, and distort the credibility of the whole system? Has the lawmakers examining the implication of the new package before they implement it in haste, when the world's economy is still in doldrum?
How u know that under the new system... the rich will pay less while the poor will pay more??
afterall.... isnt it said that the more you earn... the more you spend... AKA... the rich might end up with more GST vis a vis the poor who will be; the less you earn... the less you will (or can afford to) spend....?
In fact... GST is by fact an equitable system.... the more you spend... the more tax you pay... the less you spend... the less you pay... and if you go JB... you dont even pay at all!!!
Obviously... if you are poor.... one would wonder where you get the money to spend so much so as to make GST a significant concern?? i would have thought it will be the rich ... with their high expenditures who will be grumbling about higher GST.
But... i do agreed with the reccomendation by a poster in the newspaper... that basic food stuff such as rice, oil, salt and sugar should be exempted from GST.... i dont think many rich folks eats much of these... but i could be wrong.. hehee..
I believe that lowering the income tax is somewat a realistic approach... first.. the rich folks aint no stupid cow on the street waiting for you and me to come and milk it to our hearts content... i am pretty sure that many a rich folks have many financial and legal advisers who will help them to ' minimise ' the tax burden.. in fact... in the eyes of the rich folks.... with lots of cash to wag around... why stay in singapore when there are places with lower tax rate??
lastly.. people tend to see things one sided... which is.. they see the taxation... but they dont see the subsidies given to citizens in healthcare, educations and not to mention your CPF topups..... or do money drop from heaven?
To me... the keyword is no corruption... taxes should be used for the eventual goods of the people rather then end up in some bottomless pit call corruption.
As for those very poor singaporeans you pointed out.... even if there is no GST... they are not gonna get any better off... and a 2 percent rise in GST while adds to their difficulties... i doubt it will aggravate their situations any further... in short... how much poorer can one get??
BUT.... it seems unfair to me for you to make use of their plight to clamour against GST rising... because what those people really needs is your help... society's help and govt help... what they need is a good paying job... NOT used as a scapegoat or to be abused to make a point against something like GST which will hit you harder then them...
To help these people... you need to bring their plights to the govt... see to it that the govt step in and help them... NOT use them to make a point of your own concern...
Of course.... to many of us who dont earn enough to even pay income taxes... the increase in GST is a de facto increase in taxation... but i feel that one must pay one's fair share to the country.... else if the rich folks are the ones to pay the biggest chunk to the IRAS... then one cannot dismiss the possibility that the leader of the country would be pressured by these rich folks to bend the country to their wills.... rather then to the will of the majority... poor.