SINGAPORE: Over the years, the Workers’ Party has been addressing rising living costs in Parliament and has focused on it as a key issue in its manifesto as Singaporeans head to the polls on May 3.
The WP published its 122-page manifesto at a press conference at its headquarters at 701 Geylang Road on April 17. The party’s policy proposals to improve the lives of Singaporeans are divided into five sections: affordability and cost-of-living concerns, economic growth and opportunities, inclusion and equality, accountability and democracy, and security and geopolitics. The manifesto can be read in full on the WP’s website here.
On Monday (April 21), the WP highlighted in a social media post what it called not only cost of living “pressures” but the cost of living “crisis”, along with the question, “What can we do about it?”
The party first reiterated its stand that by raising the Goods and Services Tax from 7% to 9% — increasing it by one percentage point each in 2023 and 2024 — the government had added to the cost-of-living burdens.
“Raising the GST turbocharged inflation further, adding fuel to the fire and even fanning it,” the WP wrote.
This is the same language that WP chief and Leader of the Opposition Pritam Singh used in a speech in Parliament during the Budget debate in February.
Saying that the decision to raise the GST had been a “poor” one, he added, “Why the PAP went headlong and headstrong into raising GST, and thereby turbocharging inflation further, is something only the PAP itself can answer to Singaporeans for.”
“There was no need for the PAP government to add fuel to the fire” and increase inflation further by raiding the GST, he argued.
The WP had voted against the GST hike and even proposed alternatives to it. The government’s rationale for the GST is the need to increase public spending for healthcare for the elderly, education, security, and other concerns.
The alternatives the WP proposed are as follows: Allowing the revenue from the first nine years of land sales to be booked as current revenue in the national budget, increasing the Net Investment Returns Contribution (NIRC) from 50% to 60 %, raising the tax on goods such as alcohol, carbon or tobacco, imposing a net wealth tax from 0.5% to 2% on the assets of the top 1% of wealth holders, and implementing a minimum corporate tax rate of 15%.
The party also suggested that more essential goods, including basic food items, be exempted from GST, which would help particularly middle-income households who receive less support from GST vouchers.
“As every Singaporean knows, a 1% rise in GST does not lead to a 1% rise in the cost of a cup of coffee. Increases are incremental as we have experienced in our purchases from the local shop or weekly supermarket trip that cost a good 30% to 40% more for Singaporeans since the GST was hiked in an inflationary environment never seen before in decades,” Mr Singh said in his Budget speech.
“The decision to go ahead with a GST hike with inflation raging was poor. We have seen Assurance packages and CDC vouchers dished out to cushion the GST blow for many Singaporeans, but when these handouts stop, as they eventually will, the 9% GST will remain,” he added. /TISG