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PR Newswire
23-05-2011, 09:50 PM
Now that the election is over and all the blowhards are quieter, there are some possible, and specific suggestions for the government.
1. Address the anxiety about foreign workers, encourage less productive businesses to move out and still be be relatively revenue neutral.
Raise the foreign work levy gradually. Implement a levy also for mid level white collar workers (the so-called PMET segment). At the same time, reduce corporate taxes.
2. Encourage more CPF/retirement savings and bring down housing prices. Put more funds (in a relative way) into lower income Singaporean retirement accounts, spending the money slowly over time.
Increase the amount set aside in CPF that cannot be used for housing gradually. This will increase CPF funds and at the same time reduce inflationary pressures for housing since we are in a vicious cycle of easy availability of CPF money for house purchases, inflating their prices. At age 50, put a lump sum into Singaporean retirement accounts (e.g. $5K). $5K is small for a higher income person but a good fraction of a lower income Singaporean's CPF.
3. Introduce inflation indexed Government bonds as an alternative investment choice, particularly for retirees.
4. Issue Temasek Holdings shares into Singaporean CPF accounts (or allow people to purchase at low prices). Make them non-tradable on SGX, but allow people to receive dividends. Continue to issue new shares to young Singaporeans who start working from a fixed equity portion (diluting existing shareholders dividends if necessary)
5. Increase tax incentives for people to start giving money to registered charities. e.g. from double tax deduction to even triple tax deduction. Encourage people to give directly instead of asking govt to provide.
1. Address the anxiety about foreign workers, encourage less productive businesses to move out and still be be relatively revenue neutral.
Raise the foreign work levy gradually. Implement a levy also for mid level white collar workers (the so-called PMET segment). At the same time, reduce corporate taxes.
2. Encourage more CPF/retirement savings and bring down housing prices. Put more funds (in a relative way) into lower income Singaporean retirement accounts, spending the money slowly over time.
Increase the amount set aside in CPF that cannot be used for housing gradually. This will increase CPF funds and at the same time reduce inflationary pressures for housing since we are in a vicious cycle of easy availability of CPF money for house purchases, inflating their prices. At age 50, put a lump sum into Singaporean retirement accounts (e.g. $5K). $5K is small for a higher income person but a good fraction of a lower income Singaporean's CPF.
3. Introduce inflation indexed Government bonds as an alternative investment choice, particularly for retirees.
4. Issue Temasek Holdings shares into Singaporean CPF accounts (or allow people to purchase at low prices). Make them non-tradable on SGX, but allow people to receive dividends. Continue to issue new shares to young Singaporeans who start working from a fixed equity portion (diluting existing shareholders dividends if necessary)
5. Increase tax incentives for people to start giving money to registered charities. e.g. from double tax deduction to even triple tax deduction. Encourage people to give directly instead of asking govt to provide.
