In the past twenty years, the Singapore government reported a total Budget surplus of S$17 billion.
Sacrificing all the decades of surplus however would still leave a S$39.2 billion deficit for this year’s budget after the Coronavirus Budget, according to Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat. The millionaire minister kept his mouth shut where the money actually come from, except a sneaky one-liner glossing over that it will be from the national reserves.
The truth is this is funded from CPF money, in other words, from you and me.
According to Budget 2019, government expenditures had outspent revenues. This means no part of the reserves are Budget surpluses of today or the past. Every yearly government surplus saved up by the previous generations have all been used up and all that the national reserves have today is CPF money.
So how much CPF money were taken?
The CPF Board reported S$417 billion of assets this year, and so this S$39.2 billion that has been taken away amounts to 9.4%.
Since CPF money are not returned to Singaporeans anyway, there is no cause for immediate concern. The real problem comes from the loss of investment returns the S$39.2 billion, which should have been distributed as CPF interest rates to the people.
There will be S$1.5 billion lost every year in interest returns to Singaporeans based on the government legislated minimum CPF return of 2.5%-4%. There is only one way the Lee Hsien Loong government can fill the hole, and that is tax raises.
Massive tax raises is coming
9% GST has been confirmed, and it is now more necessary than ever to raise the GST so Singaporeans can get their CPF back. Like an addicted gambler, the Singapore government needs to raise more taxes to return to the CPF Board, on double dipping in the form of CPF withdrawal delays from the common Singaporean.
Based on the Singapore tax authorities’ breakdown of tax revenues in 2018, the GST’s projected revenue will be an additional S$3.4 billion a year. It will take the new GST increase at least 12 years to return CPF the S$39.2 billion.
Since vanity projects like the Founders’ Memorial, High Speed Rail, Garden By the Bay, Project Jewel, Terminal 5, Tuas Mega Port and other new projects from Lee Hsien Loong are non-negotiable, it means only one thing:
More tax raises bigger than the GST are coming if the PAP remain in power. And of course you can also forget about getting your CPF back.
Singapore will need austerity measures in its fiscal spending to pay off the S$39.2 billion deficit incurred today. The billion dollar projects like Founders’ Memorial must be terminated, millionaire ministerial salaries must be slashed and no more buying of F35 airplanes from United States. Serious financial discipline is needed or the country will collapse.
But of course, this is Lee Hsien Loong we are talking about. He wins every lawsuit in Singapore because the judge, police and judiciary is corrupted.
Nobody disobeys the dictator. He say stupid things and gets away with it. He corrupt openly and sue you for defamation if you criticise him.
This year’s General Election is the last chance of removing this cancer of Singapore society and Singaporeans should do the right thing by stripping him of the premiership powers he is abusing to make himself the King.
Alex Tan
STR Editor