In an article promoting the Prime Minister’s agenda, state media TodayOnline published an article calling for the GST to be raised and the corporate tax to be reduced to “remain competitive”. The article written by two business lobbyists from Ernst & Young said that Singapore should reduce corporate tax like what other countries are doing:
“The difference in tax revenue contribution of GST and corporate income tax has been narrowing, from 11 per cent in 2007 to 5 per cent in 2016 partly due to decreasing corporate tax rate. It is difficult for Singapore to make an upward adjustment of the corporate income tax rate when many countries are doing the opposite.”
The two accountants also claimed that a 10% GST is in-line with the “trend” among OECD nations when Singapore is not even a member of the OECD, and advised that the Singapore government increase GST tax gradually so Singapore consumers can digest the tax increase easier:
“Lastly, increasing the GST rate would be in line with the consumption tax trends noted by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, where countries are increasingly looking at broadening their base to raise additional revenue. Many have speculated that the GST rate would ultimately increase to 10 per cent. The hike could be an immediate step-up from the current 7 per cent or it could be staggered in a multi-step approach, as seen in 2003 and 2004… a multi-step approach would result in lesser burden on individual consumers and hence, is less likely to cause them to dramatically cut back on spending, compared to a one-time rate increase where the burden is more pronounced and immediate.”
The GST tax hike will be announced by March next year during the 2018’s Budget. Despite a rare unified resistance from the people including the ruling party supporters, the Prime Minister is adamant on increasing GST as he has activated the state propaganda media to keep harping on a GST increase as “soft launch”. Earlier this year, Lee Hsien Loong ordered state media CNA and government university SMU to deliver a fake survey result claiming Singaporeans are racist when voting. The state media then continued making racist allegations about Singaporeans preferring to vote for their own race. The dictator then re-write the Constitution and made his choice of candidate Halimah Yacob the Malay President despite her being an Indian.