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A contributor has shared some interesting calculations for Budget 2020. The government has proposed four Budgets for this financial year, amounting to $193 billion. In Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat's round-up speech on debate on the Fortitude Budget in Parliament, he revealed that Singapore is "committing almost $100 billion, or close to 20 per cent of our GDP, to our Covid-19 response".
According to Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS), Goods and Services Tax (GST) collection for FY2018/19 was $11.1 billion. Once the PAP increases GST from 7% to 9%, our contributor estimates this should bring in an estimated extra 0.7% GDP per year.
So in order to cover the money spent on the Special $100 billion Covid19 Budgets, our contributor suggests that the government will need around 28.5 years to claw back this amount. Could this mean that the PAP has a lot of extra in our reserve and they don't really need the extra 2% GST to begin with?
On the other hand, instead of waiting 28.5 years to patch up this financial deficit in our reserves, another way the government can reduce this 28.5 years could be to increase costs and other forms of taxation. This concern about rising costs has been suggested by another netizen.
Singaporeans should vote wisely or risk dealing with "getting their whole chicken taken back after receiving a chicken wing".
Credits: 許隆貴
