SINGAPORE : What would you do if you had S$30 billion to spend
on the Singapore economy, give more money to education, healthcare
or security?
And how would you raise revenue - by taxing income, cars or
tobacco?
Some 30 junior college students were faced with these decisions,
when they tried out a web-activity tool on the 2005 Budget
website.
A volatile economy, rising healthcare costs and global competition
have made Singapore's spending choices harder in recent
years.
So how would young Singaporeans make difficult decisions on where
to allocate resources?
Donald Low, Fiscal Policy Director, Finance Ministry, said, "The
fiscal policy environment has become a lot more challenging in
recent years. The economy has become a lot more volatile, we're
operating on far thinner surpluses, so the choices are tougher, we
face harder trade-offs, the tradeoffs become starker.
"The purposes of this session is to give them a feel of the fiscal
policy tradeoffs and challenges we face and to get them to think
about the consequences and implications of the spending and tax
decisions they make."
Gideon Sim, Student, Anderson Junior College, said, "It's quite an
interesting exercise because we get to play Minister for once, and
we get to put in our own opinions where the money should be spent.
And hopefully I think somebody will actually be looking at it to
see where the people's opinions lie."
Valerie Anne Nunis, Student, Temasek Junior College, said, "I
believe in social equity, so I actually chose to increase spending
on things like education, and spending on social welfare. Because I
believe that by helping people in this way, you actually increase
their chances of getting out of the poverty cycle or the poverty
trap in that sense."
The majority did not raise income taxes - but chose overwhelmingly
to increase taxes on tobacco, liquor and gambling.
And if these students ran the country, there would also be no CPF
topups, cash handouts or tax rebates!
It is obviously all a question of choice.
And the students will get to find out how their choices differ from
the Finance Minister's when they attend the Budget Statement in
Parliament on Friday.
They will also get to meet the Minister of State for Finance Mrs
Lim Hwee Hua, to discuss their views. - CNA