GST is helping the poor (corporates)

Posted: November 25, 2009 by fievel in Labels: ,
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Strange isn't it? Most Singaporeans seem unaware of the reasoning behind the tax hike. Officially, the reasoning given was that it will help the poor and tax the affluent more. Apart from thinking that this reasoning is rubbish as it likely does the exact opposite (see link, link and link), I think it was also an insult to the intelligence of the Singaporeans who opposed the amendment for the government to throw some one-off GST sweeteners and then forget all about it thereafter. Life goes on yeah? Well from today's news and Minister Lim Hwee Hua, it seems now this GST monies is being used to reduce the corporate tax rates so as to make Singapore an even more business-friendly country.

I don't know about you but deep down I'm sure all of you can feel that something is wrong isn't it? Many don't see the effects of this as it works slowly, and in small ways - not dissimilar to a smoker slowly but surely killing himself. I think it wouldn't be too imaginative of me to think of thieves pretending to be Robin Hood, plundering the citizenry over and over again, everytime we spend on anything, everything in Singapore.

Straits Times
Offset for corporate tax fall

A PROJECTED fall in government revenue from a corporate tax cut here will be more than offset by steps taken in recent years to raise revenue from other sources, said Second Minister for Finance and Transport Lim Hwee Hua on Monday.
Her comments coincided with the passing of the Income Tax (Amendment) Bill on Monday, which gave effect to pro-business tax measures announced during the Budget speech in January.
Among other things, the new law exempts companies from paying tax on foreign-sourced income for one year, and allows businesses to claim losses against three previous years of income instead of just one.
It also cuts the corporate tax rate from 18 per cent to 17 per cent, bringing Singapore's rate closer to that of key rival economy Hong Kong, where the rate is 16.5 per cent.
Mrs Lim, who is also Minister in the Prime Minister's Office, said this reduction will cost the Government between $400 million and $500 million a year.
But she assured members of the House that earlier steps - including the raising of the goods and services tax (GST) from 5 per cent to 7 per cent in 2007 - will more than make up for this fall.

4 comments:

  1. Alan Wong says:
    November 26, 2009 at 1:27 PM

    Deep inside they already knew that the GST increase was to broaden the tax base. Yet they still want to insist that it was to help the poor.

    Same with HDB flat prices, still insist it is a subsidy when they are actually making obscene profit from it especially when they have not given us any real figures to indicate any subsidy.

    Looks like the PAP will continue with the deceit and will not stop lying to us until we put a stop to them at the ballot boxes.

  1. fievel says:
    November 26, 2009 at 2:01 PM

    Exactly, Alan.
    It's not complicated, but they like to make it seem to be so. It's just plain vanilla deceit.

    The HDB issue is another can of worm.
    They say they subsidize off the resale market rates...yet the price of the resale market rate is directly controlled by their monopoly on the mass housing market.

    Actually, both GST and HDB issues share one common trait, it's akin to the government taking money from you with its left hand (in deft ways so u don't realize it), and putting some back with its right hand to earn undeserved brownie points from silly masses under the hypnotic trance of their mass-media.

  1. Anonymous says:
    November 26, 2009 at 2:34 PM

    "Increase GST to help the poor"

    We know all along the poor refers literally to the Rich and affluent entity, not really the poor man on the street.

    For example,

    Poor Temasek HOlding losing billions of investment money that sucked mainly through the citizens.

    Poor GIC running by old senile fart pretend to be God of investment.

    You see, there is a lot of definition of poor, so the poor definition in this case of corrupted gov is
    "hapless: deserving or inciting pity; "a hapless victim"; "miserable victims of war"; "the shabby room struck her as extraordinarily pathetic ..."

    Definitions of poor on the Web:

    hapless: deserving or inciting pity; "a hapless victim"; "miserable victims of war"; "the shabby room struck her as extraordinarily pathetic ...
    having little money or few possessions; "deplored the gap between rich and poor countries"; "the proverbial poor artist living in a garret"
    characterized by or indicating poverty; "the country had a poor economy"; "they lived in the poor section of town"
    lacking in specific resources, qualities or substances; "a poor land"; "the area was poor in timber and coal"; "food poor in nutritive value"
    inadequate: not sufficient to meet a need; "an inadequate income"; "a poor salary"; "money is short"; "on short rations"; "food is in short supply"; "short on experience"
    poor people: people without possessions or wealth (considered as a group); "the urban poor need assistance"
    unsatisfactory; "a poor light for reading"; "poor morale"; "expectations were poor"

  1. Jezebella says:
    November 27, 2009 at 8:37 AM

    The biggest problem is that they actually lied about it. Something is really wrong and rotten if they have to lie. Now how many other things have they lied about? It's disgusting.