A close look at WP’s proposal to treat land sale proceeds as revenue for spending
The WP had proposed that land sale proceeds be treated as revenue for budget spending. They still do not recognise that land is a scarce asset in Singapore and protected as Past Reserves. In fact, the land is so scarce, Singapore had to reclaim land to build housing estates (Read here). One-quarter of Singapore is […]
Singapore’s political contestation will continue, likely to intensify
Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong spoke at the annual public service leadership ceremony on November 1, 2022. In his opening speech, he highlighted that the Public Service played a pivotal role in keeping Singaporeans safe during the Covid-19 pandemic, from keeping borders, checkpoints, hospitals, and vaccination centers running smoothly to reaching out to households and businesses to […]
GST from tourists. Why not? In 2019, tourism receipts was $27.7 billion
Now that our borders are open, tourists will start to come back and we will be able to collect revenue from tourists’ spending through the GST. In pre-COVID time, the bulk of net GST collected came from tourists and foreigners residing here, in addition to high income earners. At least 60% in fact. 19 million […]
Lessons from Sri Lanka on bad politics, mismanagement and populism
Good politics, honesty and integrity, and good governance are topics the PAP Government repeatedly remind Singaporeans of, sometimes like a broken record. But the experience of Sir Lanks tells us just how important these are. Sri Lanka is in its worst crisis since its independence in 1948. A severe shortage of foreign currency has left […]
Did Workers’ Party propose more than one way to dip into strategic reserves?
Did Workers’ Party (WP) propose more than one way to dip into Singapore’s strategic reserves? Yes they did. WP in fact, proposed 2 ways to dip into our strategic reserves for recurrent spending: direct use of land sale proceeds and increased use of NIRC. Land sale proceeds Singapore’s reserves include physical assets like land. Currently, […]
Lessons from WP on how to keep the golden goose lean and thin
The Workers Party (WP) which opposes the GST hike, proposes to raise revenue to fund increased spending in the following ways: Use land sale proceeds to fund budget spending; Increase NIRC ( Net Investment Returns Contribution) from 50% to 60%. Point 1 Currently, proceeds from land sales are already being used – indirectly – for budget […]
Are there compelling reasons to raise GST?
Our population is ageing rapidly. By 2030, approximately 900,000 citizens or one in four citizens will be aged 65 and older. For sure, healthcare expenditure will go up. Since the last time the GST was raised in 2007, public expenditure has gone up significantly. Between 2007 and 2019, government spending more than doubled from S$33 […]
Coming Soon: Finance Minister Lawrence Wong to unveil Budget 2022 on 18 Feb
Come 18 February, Finance Minister Lawrence Wong will deliver Singapore’s Budget 2022 statement in Parliament. This will be the first time he will be delivering the Budget statement as Finance Minister, having taken over the portfolio from Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat last year! Every year after the national Budget is announced to the public, […]
Are we rich? We should manage our critical Reserves with a founder’s mindset and be careful not to chip it away.
Our Reserves are a critical resource and society, as a whole, must be wise in how we manage this resource so that it is not eaten away over time. The calls to spend more from our reserves is not a new one. Twenty years ago, there were already calls to stop accumulating reserves and to […]
Do not kill the hen (reserves) that lays golden eggs. Fatten it instead, says Goh Chok Tong
Aesop’s fable on “The Goose that lays the golden eggs” tells the story of a farmer whose goose lays one golden egg a day. Wanting to get all the eggs at once, the farmer kills the goose, only to find that he has lost the source of golden eggs. ‘To kill the goose that lays the […]