Tourists and foreigners living in Singapore contribute to 50% of net GST revenue

Come, let us reason together.

50% of NET GST collected (after tourist refunds) is from tourists and foreigners living here. Another 20% is paid by the top 20% of households. (Data provided in Parliament).

This means 𝟑𝟎% 𝐨𝐟 𝐆𝐒𝐓 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝟖𝟎% 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐬 including people earning sufficiently good income.

Someone asked in Parliament if it is worth collecting 50% of the NET GST from tourists and foreigners living here because Singaporeans earning 𝐬𝐮𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 are also affected by inflation.

The question that should be asked is: is it smart to give up more than $3 billion (after hike) you can collect from tourists and foreigners yearly, and lay it all on Singaporeans when you don't have to?

Inflation affects everyone.

If you are earning a sufficiently good income of $10k or $16k, you should be able to bear it with some adjustments and not expect to be totally shielded from it.

The rich are already being taxed more. In fact, the top 20% households, together with tourists and foreigners, account for around $4 billion of NET GST in 2019.

As you can see from data, GST is mainly borne by tourists, foreigners and top income earners.

A WP Government will remove the second key to raid reserves to fund their populist policies

If Singaporeans buy into the proposal that we can sell land for money to spend on daily needs, then we are not only stupid, we are the laughing stock of the world.

Singapore is so small, we don't even have enough land for all our needs. We have to reclaim land.

Saudi Arabia not only has oil. Saudi Arabia also has land (2.15 million sq km).

Singapore is just 716 sq km of which 141 sq km is reclaimed land.

For all its vast resources, Saudi Arabia has had to raise value-added tax from 5% to 15% in less than 2 years! 10 percentage points in less than 2 years.

The last time Singapore raised the GST rate was in 2007.

15 years later, Singapore wants to raise GST by 2 percentage points.

The proposal by WP to sell land for money to spend on daily needs is a desperate populist measure.

WP's proposals: sell land for money, borrow for money, no need for you to pay more taxes. Free education, free transport, ...

What is stopping WP from going all the way of populism to promise you free things is the second key to the reserves, the blocking power of the President.

A WP-led government will remove the blocking power of the President.

Yes, they will.

Pritam said in Parliament that the President must be restored to its ceremonial role with no blocking power so that there will be no confrontation with a newly-elected (WP) Government.