National Solidarity Party seeks assurance from Minister of Finance that there would be no increase in Good & Service Tax (GST) after the General Elections from 2016 to 2020.
NSP in their press statement wrote,
We refer to the article “No basis to Claims of GST hike: MOF”, Straits Times, 8 Aug 2015.
We welcome the Ministry of Finance’s (MOF) reiteration that the increased spending planned for the rest of this decade is sufficiently provided for by measures that the Government had already taken, and hence there is no need to increase GST.
Such being the case, NSP would like to ask if the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, Tharman Sharmugaratnam, can again reassure the public by pledging no increase in GST after the general elections, from 2016 to 2020, just as he did in 2011?
In 2011, Mr Tharman spoke to reporters on the sidelines of a community event in Jurong, saying, “As Finance Minister, I have made that very clear in Parliament that at least for the next five years – it does not mean we will raise it in five years’ time – but at least for five years, there is absolutely no reason to raise the GST, because this was the whole idea – we strengthen our revenue base in time.”
MOF in its recent clarification, stated that in the debate in Parliament on the Budget in February, Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam said the increased spending planned for the rest of this decade is sufficiently provided for by measures that the Government had already taken.
