Derrick Goh on Goods and Services Tax (Amendment) Bill
The world has changed dramatically with a global economic slowdown, declining trade liberalisation, increasing geopolitical uncertainties and the unwinding of a decade-long quantitative easing. As a result, Singapore must take heed that past returns are not a guarantee of future performance, said MP Derrick Goh. During the debate on the Goods and Services Tax (GST) hike in Parliament on Monday (Nov 7), he cautioned against taking the “easy way out” of spending more from the national investment returns and saving less. Mr Goh asked if the Ministry of Finance has factored known macroeconomic headwinds into the country’s long-run expected returns, and what plans it has to steadily grow the reserves to increase the returns available for higher expenditures in the longer term. He also sought assurance that the GST rate will not rise beyond nine per cent in the near term, should economic uncertainties persist and result in lower tax receipts even after the hike.
The world has changed dramatically with a global economic slowdown, declining trade liberalisation, increasing geopolitical uncertainties and the unwinding of a decade-long quantitative easing. As a result, Singapore must take heed that past returns are not a guarantee of future performance, said MP Derrick Goh. During the debate on the Goods and Services Tax (GST) hike in Parliament on Monday (Nov 7), he cautioned against taking the “easy way out” of spending more from the national investment returns and saving less. Mr Goh asked if the Ministry of Finance has factored known macroeconomic headwinds into the country’s long-run expected returns, and what plans it has to steadily grow the reserves to increase the returns available for higher expenditures in the longer term. He also sought assurance that the GST rate will not rise beyond nine per cent in the near term, should economic uncertainties persist and result in lower tax receipts even after the hike.
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