We haven’t even fully dealt with the blow of the hike in water price yet!
With the recent Budget announcement and the steep water price hike that everyone can’t stop talking about, a lot of Singaporeans are worried about dealing with the increased cost of living. Indeed, we acknowledge the efforts by the government to help Singaporeans cope with the price hike — ie. through the new GST voucher scheme etc. We also resort to falling back on non-monetary, life-saving hacks to reduce our monthly bills as well.
Even before we have fully dealt with the blow of the hike in water price this week in parliament, there seems to be a conversation about a potential GST hike… And also, a potential increase in public transport fares.
We won’t make news out of no news, but it doesn’t hurt having some knowledge about what goes on in the parliament.
Maybe by keeping up and involving in the conversation frequently, Singapore can ultimately become a more participatory state.
GST hike?
Mr Low Thia Khiang, prominent leader of the Workers’ Party raised a question on whether GST will increase.
He said: Will the Government raise GST before the end of this decade? Does the minister agree that GST vouchers do not fully offset the amount of GST paid by lower-income households?
To which, Mr Wong, the second minister of Finance gave a general consensus that the government is indeed seeking to find areas to help with the revenue. But for now, there is no specific area that is seemingly apparent or conclusive yet.
GST voucher is not just to cover for the lower income groups but rather for the “overall progressivity of the system”. Strength in numbers, right. Mr Wong explainedthat GST is a permanent voucher and it is meant to be a progressive consumption tax. In essence, it will affect the higher income groups more. Hmm, isn’t that comforting?
Let’s revise the history of GST.
This might potentially be used as some of the reasons that were quite similar to what we’ve heard about the water prices…
The last time our GST increased GST was first introduced in 1994. 23 years ago, GST was 3%. In 2003, it was raised to 4%. And then, to 7% about a decade ago. We’ve found a coincidence! — the previous water price hike was about a decade ago too.
“Other countries also like that” We might get one argument about how our GST rates are considerably already very competitive and humbled relative to other countries.
Countries in Europe such as United Kingdom and Germany have a tax rate of 20% and 19% respectively. Our neighbour, Malaysia has a tax rate of 6%.
With that in mind, it might feel justified for Singapore to raise our GST rates to become the middle player, right?
Transport prices might join the party
Transport minister Khaw Boon Wan reached out to seek the understanding of Singaporeans when public transport prices increase. This price increase will become apparent soon when the 2017 pricing cycle ends.
The prices of public transport services are constantly reviewed by the Public Transport Council. Public transport is indispensable especially in this island where car prices are one of the highest in the world. Way to go, price hike also cannot do anything.
Hey, there’s some rationality to the price hike. Why would the government hike the prices for nothing? The current model is apparently unsustainable — the rising costs of public transport have been supported by taxpayers’ money.
Call Singaporeans nonchalant Instead of complaining, Singaporeans have seemed to master the art of what we call, passive aggressive. Purely for entertainment purposes, we feature here some of their comments from Facebook.
Jokes asides and with all due respect
GST is after all, a progressive tax scheme. For the betterment of the economy, expect all our daily goods and services to experience a mini-inflation. But not to worry, as the government will always have our back. Even without any knowledge of economics, the term progressive sounds like something that will ultimately increase inadvertently. Whether is it in 3 years time, or 10 years time, we are always reminded that change is the only constant, right?
This conversation adapted from the parliament between Mr Wong and Mr Low was first seen on Straits Times.
