Business Times, August 2012
Business Times, August 2012
Business Times, August 2012

The Government says there is “no basis” to claims that it intends to raise the Goods and Services Tax (GST) after the upcoming general elections, which is widely expected to be held in September.

“There is no basis to these claims, and they are inconsistent with what the Government has recently stated,” a statement posted on the Government website on Thursday said.

Some other websites had reported the possibility of the consumption tax being raised from the present 7 per cent to 10 per cent to fund government social programmes.

The Government statement said that DPM Tharman Shanmugaratnam had, in his Budget statement earlier this year, stated that the revenue measures the Government “had already undertaken will provide sufficiently for the increased spending planned for the rest of this decade.”

It said some of these measures, for example, involved the inclusion of Temasek in the Government’s Net Investment Returns (NIR) framework from 2016 onward, and the increase in the top marginal rates for personal income tax from Year of Assessment 2017.

“These measures came after moves in recent years to make Singapore’s property tax rates more progressive, with significantly increased tax rates for high value residential properties, offsetting reduced tax rates for lower value homes,” the Government said.

“With the change to incorporate Temasek in the NIR framework and the other tax changes I have introduced, in particular the increase in the personal income tax rate, we will be in a good position for at least the rest of this decade,” it added.

The speculations of a GST hike perhaps stem from what Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong himself said in his 2012 National Day Rally speech.

Mr Lee had said then that the government was looking to build “an inclusive society” and that social programmes would have to be paid for.

“As our social spending increases significantly, sooner or later, our taxes must go up,” he said. “Inclusiveness doesn’t just mean more good things from the state or falling from heaven.”

Mr Lee said that “[as] spending increases significantly, sooner or later our taxes must go up – not immediately, but certainly within the next 20 years.”

“Whoever is the government will at some point have to raise taxes because the spending will have to be done and the spending will have to be paid for,” he said.

With many social programmes having been introduced since the last elections, questions have been raised about how these would be paid for.

Mr Tharman had promised prior to General Election 2011 that the GST would not be increased for “at least the next five year”.

The GST was introduced 21 years ago in 1994, and was last raised by 3 per cent to its current 7 per cent.

Subscribe
Notify of
0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
You May Also Like

【冠状病毒19】曾一同出席会议 马国两名部长确诊冠病

据马来西亚媒体报导,曾一同出席内阁会议的两名部长:首相署部长慕斯达法和妇女、家庭及社会发展事务部长丽娜,相续确诊冠病19! 这使得所有曾出席上述会议的部长都要接受检测或居家隔离。丽娜哈伦的妇女部门也证实消息,并对于造成的不便致歉。 据了解,该名妇女部长确诊前一周还曾出席几个活动和会议,包括巡视彭亨劳勿县的水灾疏散中心等,还曾移交必需品给居民。

Ho Ching to extend sabbatical to six months

Ho Ching, the chief executive officer of Temasek Holdings, will be extending…

Blast from the past: Raise road tax to subsidise public transport: Blog group

by: Ravi Philemon/ In September 2008, TOC submitted a proposal to revamp…

High Court awards the full claim of S$129,327 to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in defamation suit against blogger

The High Court has granted the full claim of legal cost and…