Timing of GST hike, cost of living among issues MPs raise at start of Budget debate

Parliament debated Prime Minis- ter and Finance Minister Law- rence Wong's Budget statement on Feb 26, with 28 MPs speaking.

- Tham Yuen-C and Chin Soo Fang Hariz Baharudin and Anjali Raguraman

The topics they covered ranged from the timing of the goods and services tax (GST) hike to cost-of- living concerns and the effective ness of government spending.

The House sits again on Feb 27 for day two of the three-day de- bate.

TIMING OF GST HIKE

The necessity of raising the GST in the last two years was questioned by Leader of the Opposition and Workers' Party (WP) chief Pritam Singh, who called it a poor decision amid Singapore's "exceedingly healthy fiscal position".

He was rebutted by several MPs, who said the Budget surpluses were testament to the government's prudent financial management, which has allowed it to provide substantial support to Singaporeans while still saving for the future.

They also noted that inflation had gone up around the world, and that Singapore fared better in this regard than many other countries.

Opening the Budget debate, Mr Singh noted that even after giving out CDC and SG60 vouchers, the Budget surplus for 2024 had been revised "massively upwards" from $778 million to $6.4 billion, and that the overall surplus from this term of government is set to hit $14.3 billion. This has led many Singaporeans to question the need for higher GST, he said. GST was raised from 7 per cent to 9 per cent in two stages, in 2023 and 2024.

"Why the PAP went headlong and headstrong into raising GST, and thereby turbocharging inflation further, is something only the PAP itself can answer to Singaporeans for," he said.

That authorities had projected deficits in 2021 and 2022 but in- instead had surpluses that showed poor fiscal marksmanship, and if this continued, could lead to cynicism when future tax increases are needed, he added.

"Singaporeans would not be out of place to ask - why is there a need to collect so much money when the Government's fiscal projections are so unpredictable, but somehow always so healthy when elections have to be called?" he said.