Here is the video of ‘kindergarten teacher’ Raymond Lemon Lim lecturing the ‘kids’ of MacPherson about transportation fares and subsidies.
So, it’s 1.5% more in GST for free transportation. This comes from the horse’s mouth and I didn’t make it up.
Let me do a simple calculation here, kindergarten style, ok?
- If annual income is $50,000, disposable income = $40,000 after CPF.
- 1.5% of $40,000 = $600. (That’s if you spend every cent you earn.)
- $600 a year = $50 a month.
I top up my Ez-Link ItchyLink card at least twice a month, and each time it’s at least $30. Each trip is $1.64 and since I work at least 22 days a month that means $72.16 in transportation for the month. So by paying 1.5% more in GST I actually save $22.16 if I earn $50,000 p.a.
Frankly, going by Raymond Lim’s figures, I think anyone who earns less than 50K and takes public transport should take up his offer. Remember, the lesser you earn, the lesser in GST you can possibly pay. (Don’t flame me for this… this is the same method used by the government gahmen to justify the amount of GST goodies given to you was sufficient to cover the GST hike!)
After all, when you earn only $20,000 p.a., then the disposable income you have is $16,000. And if you spend all that $16,000 you earned, 1.5% on that is only $240 a year ($20 a month!!). In short, the more mode of transport you need to use, 1.5% of GST for free transport is exactly the ‘plan’ for you!!
But where’s the catch? The catch is, they will now increase GST annually! Every man can figure that out even by using the head of their one-eyed bandit to think. And that’s not mentioning that the service standards will be any better than the almost non-existent ones now. In short, it might even get worse since they are going to say: “It’s free, don’t complain!”
And you mean you don’t know the Tali-PAP’s modus operandi by now?
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What is needed is a look at the big picture. The benefits of free public transportation are myriad. Less global warming, fewer oil wars, just to name two. There is a worldwide movement growing for free public transportation, our blogs and websites have plenty of analysis and evidence supporting the idea.
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Why would anyone take the words of a Singapore politician seriously? They are always changing tunes. To put it crudely, in Hokkien, it’s called Cui Kong Lam Pa Song.
I think the catch is tat always focusing on 1 piece of news and forget about others.
Like MSK is still missing
Like Budget surplus from 2007 6B tat came from 2% Increase which also logically leads on that 2008 also got surplus but it’s just covered under the fact tat there wasn’t any increase in GST. (GST was only increased previous year)
Reduction in Employer CPF contribution and never put back.
So many catch… Too many to list. MSM is doing a good job.
Untrue about the yearly increases.
GST is a consumption tax. When the cost of running Free Public Transport increases, so does the cost of everything else, which means that the GST will be charged on the higher cost of everything else, which means more GST will come in. In effect, it ought to be 1.5% of GST forever, short of something that can affect ONLY transportation.
This is similar to how education/defense/health take up a “standard” percentage of the budget each year – with health increasing due to something which only affects health instead of the economy in general, the aging population.
The slide in service standards is a non-starter. After all, it’s free. Polyclinic queue too long, go private doctor. Free MRT sucks, take taxi. It is in the government’s interest that public services, particularly those which are subsidised and seen as “government run” to be effective (including cost effective). After all, a government that can’t provide the services it promises doesn’t have a right to be a government.
As you said, most of us will save on public transport once we switch to Mr. Raymond Lim’s plan. The cost will be paid by those who have more to spend, and hence pay more GST. People like, say, Raymond Lim.
There is no catch. Support Raymond Lim!
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Interesting. Now tat u mention it, yes it’s highly possible tat yearly GST will continue to raise due to Cost of Operating Raising every year. But still, i still wonder about the Budget extra 2% GST which produce a surplus for 2007 went where liao.
6B Surplus is surely many times over to cover 1.2B in Operating Cost.
PS: Nice tat now u ve a Notify me of followup comments via e-mail
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