Opposition should just save their breath
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Opposition should just save their breath...
no matter what they say, GST hike is still going to happen.
"The Lightning" have every nook and cranny filled with obscure and ambiguous reasons from some previously unheard of channels.Tharman rebuts Opposition MPs' arguments over GST hike
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Second Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam has rebutted arguments by Opposition MPs that there is no need to raise the Goods and Services Tax just yet simply because other sources of revenue are in the pipeline.
Summing up the Budget debate on Thursday, he said this was not the way a responsible government conducts its fiscal policy.
In the last two days, the three Opposition parliamentarians had argued against the GST hike.
To fund programmes for lower income Singaporeans and to take the country forward, Non-Constituency MP Sylvia Lim suggested using gambling revenue which she said could come up to $1.5 billion to $3.8 billion each year.
But to get this amount of taxes, Mr Tharman said the two integrated resorts need to generate combined gaming revenues of S$15 billion to S$33 billion.
Mr Tharman said: "I don't know whether she really believes this. But to put it in perspective for her, all the casinos in Las Vegas put together earn 10 billion dollars a year in gaming revenues. So her estimates mean that our two integrated resorts must produce 1.5 to 4 times the gaming revenues as the whole of Las Vegas."
Potong Pasir MP Chiam See Tong has advocated using revenues from land sales.
However, Mr Tharman explained only proceeds from the sale of land on short leases are treated as operating revenues for spending purposes.
For longer leases, the proceeds must go into the reserves to earn income that's drawn as part of the Net Investment Income.
Mr Tharman added, "There is another reason why we should avoid linking land sales directly to government revenues. If we do that we open ourselves to the danger of subsequent governments being motivated to sustain a property boom."
The Opposition had also suggested the government wait for the corporate income taxes to grow and use revenues from personal income taxes and stamp duties since they have increased sharply last year.
To this, Mr Tharman replied that the government hopes that with improved competitiveness and growth, corporate taxes will continue to grow well.
But that does not mean corporate taxes will increase as a percentage of GDP.
The Second Finance Minister said both Mr Low Thia Khiang and Ms Sylvia Lim wanted the government to take the easy way out by waiting for future revenues to materialise when there is a bonanza in gaming revenues and corporate taxes increase faster than GDP.
Mr Tharman said: "Then we find out that we run out of revenues and are desperate, we raise GST. That's not the way a responsible government conducts its fiscal policy. We make no apologies for the fact that we anticipate Singapore's future needs, prepare ourselves to meet them and go forward from a position of strength. That is the way we have done it and how we must continue to do it, go forward with confidence, not uncertainty." - CNA/ch -
Which also reminds me.....
it's always SECOND Finance Minister this SECOND Finance Minister that.
He might as well be SECOND Prime Minister as he is just parroting. -
They have a reason for every shit. Their first instinct is to suppress critics because how can the elite scholars be wrong? Look at how many years they managed to suppress the critics of streaming of EM1,2,3 until it burst into social anger with Jack Neo's "I not Stupid" movie.Originally posted by Ponders:Opposition should just save their breath...
no matter what they say, GST hike is still going to happen.
"The Lightning" have every nook and cranny filled with obscure and ambiguous reasons from some previously unheard of channels. -
they only want face.
allowing ideology to infect our national discourse is all they have done so far .
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Sometimes I feel really sad for the people at the top.
At the rate they are spewing nonsensical logic when they explain the rationale for their policies, there will come a time when they really say something logical and nobody will believe them.
It's like the story about the boy who cried wolf.
After a while, nobody will believe them anymore, even if it's the truth.
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if the foolies@temasek practice business due diligence in their roles, we could have use the monies instead to help the needy here instead of raising gst, or at least delay it.
this is the only gahmen i read/heard so far that placed so much emphasis on money matters on all front.
do they exist to serve the motherland or the ppl or exist to make money? i realized all the previous talk abt the sgp inc thing, but it's pre-occupation with enhancing the country's wealth has taken to an unprecedented level that defy convention.
now, all the doubts tt the ppl affected have on how the taxes/rev are managed are valid concerns. for all the $ tt were collected,distribution of income is still lopsided. one-time hand-outs, progress package and what-have-you are all lose change that the gahmen dish out to the ppl who needs it most. the bulk are used to build white elephants, and invested abroad; a case of administrators and bureaucrates trying to be businessmen.
which brings me back to the foolies@temasek...... -
no, opposition MPs should not shut up. their voices may seem useless, but it's their right and duty to speak up. don't forget that one day, the oppostion will win an election.
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And then the former government will be asking the new leaders:Originally posted by blueheeler:no, opposition MPs should not shut up. their voices may seem useless, but it's their right and duty to speak up. don't forget that one day, the oppostion will win an election.
Increase GST how to help the poor? How? -
if the opposition really save their breath, will u vote for them the next time?
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The only thing I laughed at was the counter replies from the PAP. One from Mr Elite, another from a member of tampines grc who said quite a bit of stupid things before, and another reply which mentioned gst was the government showing compassionate love for its people.
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I tell you, after the next 2 or 3 GEs, they will likely do away with GEs... coz by then, NOBODY would vote them....Originally posted by charlize:Sometimes I feel really sad for the people at the top.
At the rate they are spewing nonsensical logic when they explain the rationale for their policies, there will come a time when they really say something logical and nobody will believe them.
It's like the story about the boy who cried wolf.
After a while, nobody will believe them anymore, even if it's the truth.
Right now, I strongly believe their open arms invitation to foreigners and migrants here, is to bolster their lost votes...
And I believe this IS the TRUE OBJECTIVE behind their FT drive. -
I pity the opposition members, especially my lecturer, who got lambasted for her speech on the need for increasing gst.
I think they deserve our compliments for daring to speak up when they know from the start that their ideas would be rejected anyway. -
how to do away with GE when it is in the constitution? care to elaborate?Originally posted by ShutterBug:I tell you, after the next 2 or 3 GEs, they will likely do away with GEs... coz by then, NOBODY would vote them.... -
You mean, we have a constitution....?Originally posted by weiqimun:how to do away with GE when it is in the constitution? care to elaborate?
If it exists, it's probably dynamically amendable.... -
some hawkers have already increased price in anticipation of the GST hike.
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FTs are not socially engineered over 40 years like locals. They are the potential group that can actually bring down the electorate domination of the MIW, actually.Originally posted by ShutterBug:I tell you, after the next 2 or 3 GEs, they will likely do away with GEs... coz by then, NOBODY would vote them....
Right now, I strongly believe their open arms invitation to foreigners and migrants here, is to bolster their lost votes...
And I believe this IS the TRUE OBJECTIVE behind their FT drive. -
yeah i was hoping for that too... cant hope for the locals who are addicted to upgrading to vote against MIWOriginally posted by LazerLordz:FTs are not socially engineered over 40 years like locals. They are the potential group that can actually bring down the electorate domination of the MIW, actually. -
the pap will win no matter wat. dun forget the young dragon has mentioned that one of his jobs is to fix the opposition.Originally posted by ShutterBug:I tell you, after the next 2 or 3 GEs, they will likely do away with GEs... coz by then, NOBODY would vote them....
Right now, I strongly believe their open arms invitation to foreigners and migrants here, is to bolster their lost votes...
And I believe this IS the TRUE OBJECTIVE behind their FT drive. -
he can try. people don't always get what they want.Originally posted by 798:the pap will win no matter wat. dun forget the young dragon has mentioned that one of his jobs is to fix the opposition.
that's the unpredictability of the electorate when you have a sudden influx of people with vastly different mindsets and attitudes. -
it's can be difficult task for the opposition, pple SIMPLY do not want to vote for SDP. n WP is just shortage of candidates.Originally posted by LazerLordz:he can try. people don't always get what they want. that's the unpredictability of the electorate when you have a sudden influx of people with vastly different mindsets and attitudes.
for me, i will vote for pple like CSJ no matter wat.
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PAP should rule ONLY as a minority government and nothing more than that.
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"if its a lie, it had to be rebutted. lies repeated too often becomes the truth. that's why we sue"
who was the one who quoted this? -
Originally posted by ditzy:The only thing I laughed at was the counter replies from the PAP. One from Mr Elite, another from a member of tampines grc who said quite a bit of stupid things before, and another reply which mentioned gst was the government showing compassionate love for its people.
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Parliament is a waste of time.
Every question by the alternatives has been rebutted in the same arrogant and dismissive manner: PS: pls go back and do your sums first before you talk to me.
Instead of explaining what other alternatives were explored before the govt decided on the GST hike, they simply lambast the alternatives for suggesting such 'ridiculous' ideas.
Who is taking the easy way out here? Instead of exhausting other avenues that do not apply pressure on the people, they insist that GST is the ONLY way to offset govt spending on social services and other areas of national expenditure.
The full details of the budget plan has still not been disclosed, yet the plan to implement the GST hike is already into its final stretch.
Will the govt acknowledge the 'middle-poor' and 'new-poor', sections of the population that have been omitted by the criteria of the budget plan? What plans to they have to address the concerns of these people?
Or will they in their typical and supreme arrogance, swap these people aside as gnats? -
I do not want a friend who smiles when I smile, who weeps when I weep; for my shadow in the pool can do better than that. -ConfuciusOriginally posted by lightphobia:I pity the opposition members, especially my lecturer, who got lambasted for her speech on the need for increasing gst.
I think they deserve our compliments for daring to speak up when they know from the start that their ideas would be rejected anyway.
Is easy to stay out of trouble by being silence. To know what is right and speak out is courage.