Budget Day Speech 2007

CoolMyth SG

Anyone missed the laughing scene?

It's right here!

http://www.sendspace.com/file/5jbf5q

Ito_^ SG

i dun get it sia..

they reduce road and vehicle taxes, den raise gst..

how its supposed to help the poor!?

as if they got money to buy car take taxi. Laughing

and the payout will cover meh? gst haven raise, alot of prices upz liao.

bo wue gong.

CoolMyth SG

They arrive at what they concluded with some very creative calculations.

I dun know how they make some of the assumptions. Laughing

mhcampboy SG

tat was when he dropped his cup??

how he hit it? i tot he still reading..?

CoolMyth SG

Not very clear also. I assumed he dropped his cup. But maybe he just spilled it or something. Laughing

Turn volume louder to hear our PM's hearty laugh!

Gazelle SG

The road tax is targetting at the middle income group, while the GST is targetting more on the influx of tourist come 2009 and 2010 when the IRs start. Yes, they can claim back their GST, but only for certain big ticket items, all entertainment expenses in Singapore will have to pay the additional 2% GST.

The forecasted there will be an additional $1.5b revenue from GST per year, I would say that they can hit 3.0b when the IR starts.

I say this is a very smart budget, which will help generate incomes not from the local, but the foreigners.

Ito_^ SG

sure anot.

i dun believe entire nation's daily spendings cannot beat a bunch of ang moh..?

and those pay increment for ministers oso from that $.15b revenue right?

Gazelle SG

The incremental GST collection from Singaporeans expenditure is going to be a zero sum game because of the GST relieve payout over the next 4 years.
What the government will gain most if from the foreigners and FT who are not getting any relieve from the government. As of today, there are about 3.5 Singaporeans who are entitled to this benefit, all the rest of the 1million people and the millions of tourists, will have to pay for the full cost of the GST increase.

blueheeler SG

it surely sounds great that the govt's offset package for a family is more than what that family pays due to the extra 2% GST.

However, there's a problem. Let's assume that the average family spends an extra $40/month on the 2% GST rise. The govt then gives this family a GST offest amount of $600, which is $120 more than what the family would have spent. However, the govt would disperse this to the family in 1 or 2 payments, and I find this problematic.

By right, this family would have to save this lumpsum, and then use it monthly to offset their higher GST spendings. But because of our greedy human nature, this lumpsum would be inevitable seen as a 'windfall', and the family might blow the $600 on a holiday, or seafood dinner, or a new sofa (i.e. the lumpsum amount is spent NOT for making up their expenditure shaortfall caused by the GST).

So, at the end of the day, the family has a nice holiday, but they would still have to fork out more of their own money on GST.

zaxis SG

base on tax calculation Beer price should be down 10 - 30 cents

play_n_play SG

If everyone said it is good, really good???
If everyone said it is bad, really bad???
everything got good and bad! Cool

maurizio13 SG

Mr Lee calls this year's Budget a fair one, which takes care of everyone.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said, "We have to be fair to everybody at the same time. So we balance the package carefully and if you look at the benefits, the low income definitely get the most, in terms of dollars, in terms of the schemes, we have the workfare scheme and the old folks have the Senior Citizens' Bonus which is a new thing which we are doing this year. But at the same time, we also made sure that the 3-rooms and the 4-rooms, the people in HDB flats and even the people in the smaller private properties would have something."

Mr Lee told reporters that the government had to consider the whole budget package very carefully to ensure that everybody's taken care of.

Since when in Singapore's history has the budget been unfair? Every year, they tell us the budget is fair.

I think he kept to his election promise of "fixing" Singaporeans and the opposition party.

Kenashi SG

Laughing
rite lor, u think $1000 can offset GST for years to come???
if it is really a zero sum game, most ppl ain't going to complain.
the foreigners get to claim back the GST when they leave the country whereas us end-consumers going to bear the brunt of the GST impact.

Kenashi SG

corporate tax going down as if the company going to give higher increment to the workers
employer's cpf go up by 1.5%, when they slash the CPF rate, they went straight from 16% to 10%. talk about bitter medicine n small sweet

headset SG

Of course the budget is fair and best in the world.....

If you were the only artist in singapore, and u were selling one of ur paintings to a customer would u say
"Eh...actually its not my best work..i can do better lah but sian to put soo much effort .. i anyhow do u also dunno... u not artist what... summore u can buy better painting form other place meh....neh neh neh bo bo."

That said.. i do commend the Finance ministry for trying.

The budget seems better lah.... but then again how many times have we gone to a new Kopitiam and seen the display pics of food that look dam shiok. Then we order, expecting a good meal, only to discover the food tase like crap.

I guess only time will tell.....

Gazelle SG

1) Only singaporeans are given the offset package, while the 1 millions or so PR and expats are given nothing for the GST hike.

2) Do you have reasons to believe the this is the last and final payout from the government for the next 3 to 4 years?

3) GST refund is not applicable for good and services that are consumed in Singapore, etc hotels, transport, food & beverage etc. Plus, you will have to spend a min purchase of S$100 per retailer and not all retailers can help process GST refund.

00011000 SG

Anyone has more info about the 80% subsidies on further education for adult?

maurizio13 SG

I think the revenue portion of the budget was grossly under estimated.

In FY 2006 the budgeted revenue for GST at 5% was SGD3.75 billion, the actual (what was collected at the end of the year) was SGD3.93 billion, a difference in excess of SGD180 million.

In FY2007 when GST is to be increased to 7%, they budgeted for the GST revenue to be collected as SGD4.1 billion.

I think it's more like (7% / 5%) X SGD3.93 billion = SGD5.502 billion

As the GST will only be raised in 1st July, only half of the increase is attributable to the year.

(SGD5.502 billion - SGD3.93 billion) X 0.5 = SGD0.786 billion (due to 2% GST)

Therefore the GST revenue estimates for FY 2007 should be in the region of:

SGD 3.93 billion (FY 2006 actual) + SGD 0.786 billion = SGD4.716 billion NOT SGD4.1 billion as budgeted.

The government budgeted SGD4.1 billion which is a gross under estimation of SGD616 millions. I don't understand with a 40% [(7% / 5% X 100%) - 100%]increase in relation to the old GST. How can the GST increase by a mere SGD0.17 billion, the increase should be SGD0.786 billion.

Maybe the accountants that produced the figures are all incompetent, either that or, they are made to produce those figures, so as lead the serfs to think that the government is doing all it can to help the populace even at the expense of running a budget deficit.

Rock^Star SG

As the Chinese saying goes..."Throw a brick and receive a jade in return."

To me, it's just giving us benefits so that they are justified to take more.

Hitting 2 birds with one stone:

1) Raise revenue and at the same time,
2) Show S'poreans that the govt cares

Never underestimate the darkness of politics......

Devil1976 SG

Rolling Eyes

« Previous Page Next Page »