Has our government the right to tax like other countries?

• robertteh

  5 May 07, 20:13

  :Originally posted by oxford mushroom:
  
  Lots of welfare states in the West are trying to do that actually...the UK for one:
  

  "The government is deliberating over whether to outlaw company retirement ages and the CBI has mooted that the state pension age be raised to 70 by 2030..."
  (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4016969.stm)
  
  The pensions of the elderly will not be enough given an aging population, with fewer young workers who pay taxes and the old living longer. British employers (who pay into the pension funds for their workers) are giving their older workers a choice: work longer or accept a lower pension upon retirement.
  
  Singapore's elderly will become a burden on their families if they do not have enough retirement funds. Pushing them oon to the government is not a solution. The government derives its income from the people. Given an increasing proportion of the elderly in the population, that will place a heavy burden on the young tax payers and will discourage investment.
  
  Don't forget why Rover at Longbridge had to close. Shanghai Automotive was almost ready to buy Rover and keep it running in UK....until they realized they would have to fill in the black hole in the pension fund for the older workers (see http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4410459.stm). In the end, the Chinese gave up the deal and left thousands of Rover workers jobless and with little in their pensions.
  
  Retirement is enjoyable only if you have money to retire. Working hard and working longer is the only way to secure a comfortable retirement.
  

  OM,
  
  You are making a big mistake in comparing our retirements and medical cares or taxations with the western countries by selective comparison again like the benchmarking of ministers' salaries to top earning CEOs in the private sector.
  
  Governments in the west provide basic needs and services to the people from their taxes. They have every justification or reason for raising taxes to cover such provisions including helping people who are unemployed or in old age/
  
  In our case what would the government provide from the taxes? It simply charges market fees including basic needs like medical care and public housing so what does it do with taxes.
  
  Our government simply has no right to tax people to the same extent as other countries as it provide little or no free services to the people and nearly all services are provided by GLCs which charges market fees and make profits in doing so.
  
  In Singapore the government from day one had refused to provide welfare nor basic medical or transportation.
  
  So Singapore government spent less on the people and has no justification to tax heavily or make hidden profits in public housing.
  
  No wonder it is able to accumulate people's taxes direct and indirect into substantial surpluses which is not something created by the government but achieved through people's sweat and toils.
  
  Over time our government has taken it for granted that they are the one who is talented and claim success for such surpluses.
  
  So when it comes to rate of taxations etc, it is wrong for our government to want to increase GST to the level of the western taxes because there are not the same as our system - western governments provide or subsidize basic needs of the people whereas ours does not.
  
  It is not correct to compare our retirements or taxation systems with the west/
  
  It is not justifiable because their government taxes and recovers all possible costs of services from the people and accumulates fees and taxes and hidden profiteering from sale of lands etc so the people are entitled to have government using the surpluses finally built up by the people to benefit the people especially in their old age.
  
  Singapore government does not appear to appreciate that the surpluses are saving of the people and the people should be entitled to draw on them for urgent and unexpected needs.
  
  So stop talking as if people are asking for welfare from taxes. People are entitled to using their saving from non-provisions of services in the first place which were otherwise provided by government through normal taxes.
  
  Our government cannot have the savings on provisions of services and yet want to raise taxes or recover more costs in normal government services.
• walesa

  6 May 07, 03:18

  All that before you take into account the fact virtually no government in the West (talking about the civilised and developed parts) stays in power for 40 years on the basis of a one-party rule.
  
  Guess no government, for all their economic achievements, must have been competent enough to rival the exploits of rogues...
• robertteh

  6 May 07, 08:52

  Originally posted by walesa:

  All that before you take into account the fact virtually no government in the West (talking about the civilised and developed parts) stays in power for 40 years on the basis of a one-party rule.
  
  Guess no government, for all their economic achievements, must have been competent enough to rival the exploits of rogues...

  The people have been extremely patient to listen to all the bullshit about their so-called leadership and talents all these years but their patience has been largely taken for granted as weakness or imbecility by a spoiled child who insists on getting his ways and throwing more tantrums.
• Atobe

  6 May 07, 10:49

  Originally posted by robertteh:
  
  The people have been extremely patient to listen to all the bullshit about their so-called leadership and talents all these years but their patience has been largely taken for granted as weakness or imbecility by a spoiled child who insists on getting his ways and throwing more tantrums.

  Singaporeans have been suffering in silence and not that they have been extremely patient.
  
  Singaporeans are too afraid to challenge the system and organise any form of protest in a political environment that feature a Government - despite its confidence - will see itself as teetering on a tiny pinnacle point of power base, and any form of public protest may encourage a sudden pent up release by the entire population to protest decades of political, social and economic frustration.
  
  This is the mentality of this Single Party Government with a monopolistic grip on political power by using the Internal Security Forces and the Judiciary to ensure that not a squeak will be heard in an organised manner.
  
  The innocuous attempt to protest against the fuel hikes in the mid-1990s, was nipped in the bud when independently interested motorists - driving towards the assembly point at a car park in the East Coast Park - were all checked and their personal particulars recorded by a swarm of Traffic Police and Riot Squad.
  
  The organisers were brought to the ISD Headquarters, as if they were some kind of big time political underground cell, and they were probably constantly monitored for their political activism for the next few years.
  
  Surprisingly, some Singaporeans will see the efforts of CSJ and some political idealists protesting outside the US Embassy as insane and disturbing the 'calm waters' of Singapore.
  
  They do not see the efforts of these idealistic Singaporeans as helpful in the course of opening Singapore Political Environment, and the efforts of these people in gaining the Political Rights for Singaporeans.
  
  Singaporeans have helped confirm the success of LKY's method of 'Filling the Stomach, to dull the Mind'.