Ng Pock Too
Singapore
“Sir, I thank the Minister for his comprehensive answers and I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. The sum of $78,037,100 for Head O ordered to stand part of the Main Estimates. The sum of $30,022,000 for Head O ordered to stand part of the Development Estimates.”
“When a reservist goes for reservist training, he worries about the outstanding work in his office and whether his boss will penalise him for any delays or other setbacks that may subsequently affect his promotion.”
“--- which they are entitled to and they were totally unaware of HDB's schemes which are designed to help them seek alternative accommodation. Would the Minister ensure that standard compensation guidelines which are used to assess the amount of compensation that tenants, sub-tenants and occupiers are entitled to are made known to those wh…”
“Can the Minister explain why does he allow other Government agencies to use our nature reserves for activities which have a negative impact on our nature reserves? For instance, our SAF use the forest reserves for training activities.”
“I think in the future, it is to our interest that we have to ensure sufficient flexibility in our political system to allow for a new channel of creative ideas and constructive criticisms in order that all important issues before Parliament receive rounded treatment.”
“But I would like to remind him that sound democracy is founded on the principle that democracy is government of the people, by the people, and for the people. So the existence in whatever numbers, elected, or like my friend, Dr Lee, the Non-Constituency MP, does not come into question.”
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“Because of higher revenue collection and lower development expenditure, we enjoyed a surplus of $3.8 billion in 1988. I presume partly for this reason, the Finance Minister is satisfied that our healthy financial position does not require additional indirect tax revenue to finance expenditure. I have made a quick calculation of the proportion of tax revenue due to direct and indirect sources. The data show that over the years, indirect tax revenue as a percentage of total tax revenue has in fact been rising while the share of direct tax revenue to total tax revenue has been dropping. In 1985, the proportion of direct tax to tax revenue was 65%, indirect tax 35%. In 1986, direct taxation was 58%, indirect taxation 42%. In 1987, it was 56% direct, 44% indirect. And in 1988, 54% direct tax and 46% indirect tax. This shows that the proportion of tax burden is increasingly borne by the consumer. So in effect, without the formal introduction of a broad-based consumption tax, indirect taxation alone is already contributing to almost 50%, precisely 46%, tax revenue. What need is there to introduce more consumption taxes? The facts do not bear out the justification to widen the scope for introducing other forms of selective consumption taxes. The Finance Minister may want the additional tool to raise tax revenue in a difficult year but the best answer to increasing revenue is not by raising indirect taxes but by making the business environment more conducive for making good profits and in exercising prudent economic management. Our best insurance for a sound economic future is to spend within our means and to keep healthy reserves. 1.07 pm Mr Chin Harn Tong (Aljunied GRC)( In Mandarin): Mr Speaker, Sir, the budget this year is very encouraging.”
“It will be confusing to the taxpayer if his highest effective rate of personal income tax is once again above the corporate tax rate when the Government has in past years been arguing for, in fact has introduced, equal rates for company and individual income taxation at the top bracket. With due respect to the Finance Minister, there are two other inconsistencies which I need to point out: First, the wife relief. This has been raised to $1,500. But it defeats the purpose of encouraging wives to work because the relief is only available to those wives are not working. Working wives cannot claim this relief. Instead, if personal reliefs were increased, then working wives will also benefit from this as they will normally elect for separate assessment. Second, taxation on non-residents. The Minister has clarified that the tax rate applicable to non-residents (including individuals) is 32%. This appears to favour the non-resident more than the resident individuals. I have gone through the Finance Minister's budget statements for 1986, 1987, 1988 and for this year, 1989. He has given fair warning since 1986 on the need to introduce some form of consumption tax. With due respect to the Finance Minister, his thinking has changed over the years, from a broad-based consumption tax now to a consumption tax to be applied selec- tively on consumption items. The Finance Minister argued in his budget statement in 1987 and I quote: 'I would like to reiterate that a broad-based consumption tax will only be introduced if the revenue shortfall is substantial and a permanent deficit inevitable.' Members may know that we suffered an overall deficit of Government revenue over expenditure in 1987.”
“With a demoralised civil service at the junior levels, there can be chaos and pandemonium which we can ill-afford to have. Every pyramid has its base. So too in the hierarchical structure in the civil service establishment. Without an equally motivated lower echelon, the civil service cannot function effectively, no matter how well paid your top civil servants are. We should also not denigrate junior officers in the civil service simply because of the less intellectual nature of the jobs they perform. We have to recognize that everyone has his station in life. Given the opportunity and the proper environment, I am sure all officers in the civil service will want to excel in their work and get ahead with their civil service career. Let us not create the disparity and deny junior grade officers better salary treatment. The Government must regard any junior officer, no matter how junior he is, as part of the civil service team. I therefore hope that the Finance Ministry can consider making the salary revision applicable to all officers across-the-board in the civil service. The proposed 1% cut in the company tax rate, though a small token reduction, signals the importance which the Government attaches to our company tax rate remaining sufficiently competitive to attract and retain investors. At the same time, as a country with an open economy and our growth dependent mainly on people resources, our tax burden should never be allowed to be so high that it discourages human initiative and enterprise. For these two reasons, both the top marginal tax rate on individual income and the company tax rate were reduced to the same level of 33% a few years ago. Now that the company tax rate has been reduced to 32%, the same argument of equalization remains.”
“A post-recovery Budget, which is what I call this Budget, is sometimes worrisome to the private sector. The fear is whether measures introduced in previous Budgets to reduce the cost of doing business would be retained. I note that the Finance Minister has tried to allay such fears by keeping the tax on utilities and telephones suspended on non-domestic users, by allowing the 50% property tax rebate for industrial and commercial property to continue for another year, and by not increasing SDF levy nor widening its collection net. It is my honest opinion that even with these concessions, costs will go up in 1989. One key cost component is labour cost. The National Wages Council will be deliberating on its wage guidelines for this year. I do not want to prejudge what NWC will recommend. But let us remember we are in a tight labour market regime and labour as a commodity has to be paid its market price. The private sector will have to be more astute in managing their costs through relentless automation and mechanization and better organization of work. The Finance Minister has also announced in the Budget Statlement that there will be susbtantial salary revisions for the key services in the civil service. He mentioned on television last Tuesday that the revisions will not be made across-the-board but will be applied selectively and only to the higher echelons of the civil service. I am not against paying civil servants their market worth. But to apply this adjustment only to selected groups of civil servants in the higher echelons and in chosen services is tantamount, by implication, to telling the lower echelons - we can do without you. Do not forget that in absolute numbers, those in the lower grades take up the majority in the public service.”
“As we now enjoy the happy moments of better economic prospects, let us remember the salutary lessons of the recession and, in particular, the powerful combination in strength of the Government and the people in working together to face any common threat to our national well-being. Who knows, we may need to count on it again as old problems are solved and new ones emerge, sometimes unexpectedly! We should count our blessings that we have done well for 1988. First, it was fortuitous for us being a non-oil producer, that average crude oil prices have been low in 1988. Adjusted for inflation, oil prices have been much lower than at any time since the early 1970's. The lower price of oil has helped to constrain inflation and has given impetus to world economic expansion. For Singapore, which has to import its entire energy needs, a low oil price is a good reprieve and represents one less variable in the growth equation. For many cost-conscious Singaporeans, the most direct impact has been their savings on domestic PUB electricity bills. I am not sure if many realize this. Second, external demand was very strong. For three years in a row, strong external demand actually provided the main impetus for our economic growth. At the same time, our fiscal measures helped to reduce production costs. This gave our exporters a price advantage in an international market that fortunately stayed buoyant. We were well poised to meet market demand as the OECD economies continue to do well and our international competitiveness remained strong. Let us remember that even if we had stayed trim on cost, we could never have turned in a strong growth if the world market had softened and there was no demand for our products and services.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I rise to support the motion on the Budget Statement. In a flash, it seems, we have emerged from the recession relatively unscathed. In two short years, we reversed the performance across all sectors of the economy. The fiscal measures taken have yielded positive results. The decisions made were proven correct. The economy is now reinstated to its robust growth and full employment. As it turned out, the recession was shortlived, the anguish of unemployment now largely forgotten as we surge forward beyond recovery into a healthy pace of economic expansion. The recession was a real litmus test to our collective instinct for survival. We surmounted the recession not by the Government acting on its own in making fundamental changes to its fiscal policies. We overcame the recession because we had, what I call, the tripartite symbiosis - the combination of effort by, first, a Government not flinching from taking unpopular but crucial decisions to ensure the long term survival of our nation; second, a people pragmatic in choosing their options wisely when faced with a crisis even though they may have to endure painful sacrifices in the short term as trade-offs for long term gains; and third, the private sector willing to respond to Government measures in undertaking risks by committing capital to expand output thereby creating jobs and generating economic spin-offs. What we lack in size and resources, we make up for through this unique chemistry of symbiosis involving the Government, the people and the private sector. It was this winning combination that we counted on in regaining our economic strength. We pulled together and we made it safely and quickly through the recession.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I would like to ask the Minister two questions. First, he mentioned in his statement that the new measures will immediately affect 35 neighbourhoods. As the control is by neighbourhood and block, are there blocks outside these 35 neighbourhoods which have exceeded the permissible proportions, and will they be similarly affected by the new measures? Secondly, the Minister said that the proportions will act as a guide to allocate new and resale flats within the current first-come-first-served policy. How will these new measures affect the first-come-first-served policy which, I would like to remind him, has all along been the basis universally accepted as a fair allocation principle?”