| With Singapore facing its highest unemployment in 15 years, the government's plan to raise the Goods & Services Tax needs a rethink, says Shobha Tsering Bhalla, managing editor of Lycos Asia | ||||
| Lycos
Asia November 1, 2002 SINGAPORE ONCE again, it is that time of year (at least in places where they have seasons) when thoughts normally turn to vistas of mists and mellow fruitfulness (or their tropical equivalent), but alas, such lyrical bounty eludes us here in Singapore - and not for climatic reasons alone. We, the peasants of the high-rise hinterlands, have just been served notice about a special form of punishment called the GST (Gasp & Stagger) tax, which will increase in severity as soon as the New Year is upon us: Peasant: ’This bread how much, ah?” Shopkeeper: “Sic’ dollah, sickty cen’.” Peasant: Wha’?” (gasp, stagger). Here, as I tug my forelock (sorry, female sharecroppers courtesy don’t they?) I note that several of my fellow peasants are milling around my hovel and threatening to carry off my one remaining laying hen if I carry not this petition to the local Barbarian, er Baron. In fact, one of the petitioners – a normally placid neighbour of mine - was so incensed when he heard the town crier declare that a new tax would be imposed that he threatened to burn down the manor’s granaries until I calmed him down with a pitcher of my husband’s last barrel of “moonshine”. Sigh! What shall we do when the GST is upon us? Our daily loaf of rye and pitcher of ale might soon have to be replaced by gruel and brackish water. Oh woe is me! Ok, I jest. But you get the drift? What I’m referring to is the dreaded increase in the Goods & Services Tax (GST), which, says the government, will not be deferred. According to Senior Minister Of State for Trade & Industry Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, the GST will be raised from the current 3 per cent to 5 per cent from January 1. Speaking to parliament yesterday (October 31), he said the raise could not be deferred as the increasing economic uncertainty made it vital for the government to implement it. The argument is that the increased GST will help to revitalize the economy. As the good minister, who has no doubt done his sums, said: The increases…is an integral part of the direct tax reduction package to kick-start business, keep talent and spur growth and jobs education, healthcare and defence “ Without it, the government will apparently not be able to balance the budget and Singaporeans will apparently have to make do with inadequate key public services such as education, healthcare and defence. |
||||