Budget 2018 is best described as a scam. This is not a sensationalising headline or a click bait, it is a fact, to people with at least half a brain functioning that is.
There is a S$9.6 billion surplus in the year, and a 2% GST generates only S$3.6 billion a year according to the government’s very own propaganda mouthpiece Today. Chances are if revenue-expenditures trend remain consistent for 2020, Singapore would expect to see a record S$13 billion surplus – good enough a money to buy more F35s or build a nuclear power plant.
There is a S$9.6 billion surplus, and you need to borrow money. How does this even make sense?
There is a S$9.6 billion surplus, and S$700 million, or 7.2%, were distributed out as cash to Singaporeans. I’m trying not to sound like a broken record but this is exactly what most Singaporeans meant when they say the government gives you a wing in return for a whole chicken.
There is a S$9.6 billion surplus, and S$5 billion goes into MRT infrastructures. Let me remind everyone that this is resulted from a legal corruption: the buying over depreciating assets at inflated pricing from SBS Transit and SMRT. The official name is called “Bus Service Enhancement Programme” where S$1.1 billion was given out to the two Temasek Holdings-owned companies, and a S$1 billion bailout to SMRT under the scheme called “New Rail Financing Framework”. The depreciating assets are more toxic than it appears, they cost billions in maintenance and replacement fees, which could have drove SMRT and SBS Transit into bankruptcies had the government not bought over them. It is hence safe to say that S$5 billion of corruption money were taken out to supplement Temasek Holdings’ disastrous balance sheet.
So after S$5 billion is corrupted away and S$0.7 billion is given away to appease Singaporeans, there is only left with a a S$3.9 billion surplus. Now you will start asking “okay so how much is going to healthcare and the ageing population”? Fat hope. S$2.27 billion is going out as corporate tax cuts, which doubled from 20% to 40%, and salaries subsidies for employers. It is exactly because of such government mollycoddling why Singapore companies have a clutch mentality, always asking for foreign workers and tax cuts.
Ageing population and “help the poor” is just such a lovely and convenient excuse to cheat Singaporeans into obediently handing over their money. The slew of new tax increases from online purchase tax, GST increase and Carbon tax, is a targeted campaign to overtax the population so as to present a higher surplus every financial year. The surpluses have a placebo effect on Singaporeans, even the educated ones, who believe Singapore is in “good hands” because we have so much surpluses. No you fuckwit. Calculations have shown that you are getting S$1,800 poorer after these tax increases, if numbers and figures do not appeal to you, your wallet will do the talking. Their “good hands” are in your pockets, praise the Lee.
My interpretation on the Budget financials, is that there is no surplus. Singapore is running into losses, and the above i.e. borrowing money and raising taxes, would all make sense. The S$5 billion to be spent on MRT is a budget overspending under the Transport Ministry. The S$2.27 billion in tax cuts is also a budget overspending under the Finance Ministry. Giving each Singaporean S$100-$300 is just a ruse to make-pretend all is good, the government is rich. Notice why Terminal 5 still does not have a price tag? The government meant it to be a “floating value” so they could work backwards and account for the losses. If they need S$1 billion more, just put up the price a billion higher – after all, Singapore is corruption-free they say isn’t it?
STR Editor
Alex Tan