Young Singaporeans say they should be included in GST offset package
By Dominique Loh, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 28 January 2007 1847 hrs

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SINGAPORE: The impending Goods and Services Tax hike isn't just on the minds of working adults.

It's also the talking point among young Singaporeans, like students for example.

They don't have the earning power yet, but they're already feeling the pinch.

They gave their views at a forum organised by the People's Association Youth Movement, on the GST hike; and with an expert or two on hand, many also walked away with a greater understanding of the policy move.

"It's never occurred to me that on a longer term, I always thought of it as short or mid term how this can help but in the long term, it may pull the entire lower income group up. I did not know GST went into HDB upgrades, or city or structural renewal. This is important, without infrastructure, can't attract investment," said Dennis Ho.

"So if it's for the benefit of all Singaporeans we should just accept it and look back and say now we have moved on to 7 percent, see what the government can actually give back to us, in what transparent way so people will not question further," said Ricky Ng.

"Yes we do a lot in terms of in direct investment in them, education, transport, it's all subsidised there are a lot of investments in these areas, directly the students feel 'Hey what am I getting? Everybody is getting a progress package, an offset package what am I getting?'" said Michael Palmer, MP, Pasir Ris-Pungol GRC.

The government has promised the offset package to cushion the impact of the hike on the needy.

And the youths at the forum, especially those who're working -- felt they should NOT be left out.

The panelists feel the government will have to address these concerns, but agreed this is a good time to increase the tax.

One felt Singapore could be poised for another economic boom, if all goes well.

"So therefore, with a fully recovered economy by 2006, plus moving forward, 2007, 2008, 2009 the two integrated resorts coming, I think tourism be driving the Singapore economy strongly, which will bring along with them education hub, health care hub, transport hub, telecommunication hub, financial and private banking," said Assoc Prof Tan Khee Giap, ASEAN Economies Monitoring Unit, Nanyang Technological University.

Associate Professor Tan also thinks it's a wise decision to revise the GST once and not stagger the increase -- to avoid additional administration costs.

Besides the GST offset package, Associate Professor Tan says currently there are many social assistance schemes in Singapore to help the poor, but the real issue is actually how to get access to them. - CNA /dt