Budget 2024 debate: Hazel Poa on cost of living

The rising cost of living is the number one concern for Singaporeans and while the Government’s response has been to provide short-term support measures, this does not address the root causes of the issue, said NCMP Hazel Poa in Parliament on Monday (Feb 26). She said that while rising prices are partly due to global factors, domestic forces are also at play - including property and COE prices, population policy and Government taxes. Ms Poa said one root cause of the rising cost of living is rising rents. She called on the Government to take action to moderate excessive commercial rent increases. For a start, it could issue guidelines on reasonable annual rent increases, similar to wage guidelines issued by the National Wages Council. She added that as the largest landowner in Singapore, the Government “can push outcome(s)” in the property market “in the direction it wants”. Ms Poa said Government taxes also form part of the cost of living - most notably, GST. She said the bulk of the population are now getting Government handouts to cope with this, which “cannot be a healthy situation”. She asked that the Government reconsider exempting a list of basic necessities from GST. Ms Poa also said education and training will lift wages and help people to cope with inflation. She welcomed measures in Budget 2024 to support full-time training for mid-career workers and asked that a temporary financial support scheme for the involuntarily unemployed be finalised as soon as possible. She also suggested better ways to help ITE graduates.