In their response, once the budget was read the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) said that once the COVID-19 virus had passed, Singapore will once again face the same problems such as the rising cost of living, the “attitude of a government which views our country as a corporation and our people as customers”.
Highlighting all the goodies that the People’s Action Party (PAP) government announced during the budget reading, Chairman of the SDP Paul Tambyah said that the “highly regressive” Goods and Services Tax (GST) “makes the poor pay a far higher proportion of their income in taxes than the wealthy”.
Adding that it was only deferred by a year, Dr Tambyah said that the GST increase could come in right after the elections, in the year 2022.
He also added that there were no indications that increases in costs such as bus fares, water and electricity would be decreased.
“Whenever the PAP government gives you a chicken wing before the elections, you can be sure that after the elections, they will try and take the whole chicken back”, he added.
Speaking with Dr Tambyah, local entrepreneur and SDP member Alfred Tan, said that the SDP was “disappointed” that the plans to raise GST after 2021 were still in place.
The SDP also suggested that the government help retrenched employees with a payout system that helps them for up to 18 months upon retrenchment.
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The SDP said: “The retrenchment insurance such as the one the SDP proposes will help the Singapore employee tide through this temporary but personally devastating crisis. Specifically, the SDP is proposing the RESTART scheme, or Re-Employment Scheme and Temporary Assistance for the ReTrenched, which works like this:
If a worker is retrenched, RESTART pays him/her 75% of last drawn salary for the first six months, 50% for the second six months, and 25% for the final six months.
The payout stops once the individual is re-employed; or 18 months after the retrenchment and the payout is capped at the prevailing median wage”. /TISG