On our local reddit page r/Singapore, a redditporean posted a thread questioning if the government should give more money for GST vouchers as our cost of living increases. The redditporean noted that our GST is correlated to the cost of our goods and services in Singapore. The more something costs, the more GST you pay due to it being 7%.
The redditporean mentioned that it was introduced to help the needy. However, $0.82 a day is not going to help much as well. These are his calculations:
So, with the largest GST voucher, $300/365 days = $0.82 per day
I am sure most adults paid more than $0.82 on GST per day, even for poorest people. If you calculate, most people would spend at least $12 per day:
($3 meal x 3) + (return trip public transport $3) = $12
$12 x 7% = $0.84 on GST
Therefore, even the poorest people in Singapore would still have to pay for GST in Singapore.
Furthermore, the GST hike is coming soon:
GST hike soon
The government has the plan to increase GST to 9% to fund areas such as healthcare and social spending for the poor and needy. They will enhance the GST voucher to help lower income households. If the government enhanced the current GSTV by having an additional $100 on current $300 after GST hike, I doubt it would make any difference since everything would be increased as well. So, is increasing GST to 9% really going to help the poor and needy?
What do you think? Does the GST voucher really help us citizens? Or is the saying "give chicken wing, take whole chicken" true?
Read his full post here:
Cost of living have gone up, but GST voucher remains at $300/150 for years?
GST voucher (GSTV) was introduced to help lower-income Singaporeans. But does it still serve it purposes?
Note: I am not considering the bicentennial bonus or U-Save because those were given out because of the budget surplus or used to offset expensive utilities bill. I am talking about daily expenses excluding utilities bill and medical bill.
So, with the largest GST voucher, $300/365 days = $0.82 per day
I am sure most adults paid more than $0.82 on GST per day, even for poorest people. If you calculate, most people would spend at least $12 per day:
- ($3 meal x 3) + (return trip public transport $3) = $12
- $12 x 7% = $0.84 on GST
Therefore, even the poorest people in Singapore would still have to pay for GST in Singapore.
Cost of living have gone up
Although GST remained at 7% for 12 years (since 2007) but due to inflation and other reasons, cost of foods has gone up. Because Singapore does not exempt necessities from GST so they tax everything we bought.
For example, my chicken rice stall at my area was selling at $2 per plate ten years ago but today they are charging for $3 per plate. So indirectly we are paying more for GST compared to ten years ago. The budget revenue from GST have increased over the years as well. But GSTV wasn’t enhanced along with rising cost of living.
GST hike soon
The government has the plan to increase GST to 9% to fund areas such as healthcare and social spending for the poor and needy. They will enhance the GST voucher to help lower income households. If the government enhanced the current GSTV by having an additional $100 on current $300 after GST hike, I doubt it would make any difference since everything would be increased as well. So, is increasing GST to 9% really going to help the poor and needy?
Let me know what do you think?
