Workers’ Party says it will “continue to argue against the GST hike”

The Workers’ Party (WP) announced with a series of infographics on Wednesday (Jun 22) evening that it does not support a Goods and Services Tax (GST) hike.

This comes a day after Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong said on Tuesday (Jun 21) that an upcoming increase to the GST will not be delayed, despite rising inflation. Mr Wong also announced a new S$1.5 billion support package to help Singaporeans with rising costs.

The GST is set to rise from 7 per cent to 8 per cent in 2023, and to further increase to 9 per cent in 2024.

In its post, the WP said: “The government has announced that it will press ahead with the GST hike in 2023. The Workers’ Party has argued in Parliament against such a move at a time of heightened inflation risk and with other options for revenue generation”.

Through infographics, it added: “We note the $1.5 billion support package which provides some short-term relief to households. But this was also funded from better-than-expected fiscal outcomes”.

“The Workers’ Party does not support a GST hike. We agree with the government that ‘we must expect global inflation to broaden to other areas and even to pick up further’. Inflation continues to rise and is at a decade high, and Singaporeans are bearing the brunt of it”, the party added.

The WP added that they will continue to argue against the proposed GST increase in Parliament, as well as for alternative forms of revenue generation, such as wealth taxes or raising the reserves contribution ceiling.

During WP Secretary-General Pritam Singh’s New Year’s Day Message 2022, he said: “Higher prices across many basic needs have hit the headlines in the recent days, weeks and months. These include higher electricity prices, higher transport fares, and higher A&E hospital charges, amongst others, accounting for some cost pressures that are likely to become more acute going forward”.

In May, after some Anchorvale residents spoke to Jamus Lim about the rising cost of living, the Workers’ Party Member of Parliament (Sengkang GRC) took to Facebook to write about possible solutions aside from raising salaries.

The burden of higher prices weighs especially heavily on those who live on fixed incomes, one resident told Assoc Prof Lim. The MP wrote on a May 15 Facebook page that he had covered 10 floors during a house visit 317D at Anchorvale and “had a significant number of engaged conversations.”

“As I always tell our residents (as well as #TeamSengkang), I do not believe in rushing through our visits, compromising the quality of feedback just to fulfill some vague target for block completion. Inevitably, this does mean that I have my work cut out for me in the months to come,” he wrote in his post.

Jamus Lim: “I understand that our salaries simply don’t go as far in the face of ever-rising prices”