151st media on the potential GST hike with no mention of budget surplus

What a wonderful surprise birthday present when I woke up this morning at 64!

I refer to the full-page article “BT Explains: Singapore’s fiscal challenge“, the editorial “GST hike is a reasonable price to pay for a stronger fiscal footing” and the letter “Raising  GST  is the best way to expand revenue base” (Business Times, Nov 23).

I could not find a single word that talks about our $31.1 billion of Budget surpluses from 1997 to 2016 and the total Budget Cash Surplus of $190 billion (M130611 – Government Finance, Annual) from 2005 to 2014.

So, is it any wonder that our Press Freedom ranking is 151st in the world?

Almost every time that we hear that taxes need to be increased because of increasing social spending – there are hardly any details on the projected sums and how the increased tax revenue will be used? But tons and tons of expert opinion of why it may be needed.

This is not the norm for practically every developed country in the world when they talk about raising taxes.

Uniquely Singapore!