THE Budget 2011 Statement will be delivered by Minister for Finance, Tharman Shanmugaratnam, in Parliament on Friday, February 18.
A 'live' webcast of the delivery of the Budget Statement will be available at the Singapore Budget website, www.singaporebudget.gov.sg
The Budget Statement will also be uploaded progressively on the website as the speech is being delivered.
To subscribe to the Budget Statement mailing list and receive it via email after it has been delivered, members of the public can sign up for the free service on the website from 26 January till 2pm on February 18.
dear sgf, pls be reminded to use this thread only to discuss budget day speech
all other trigger-happy threads will be deleted
repeated offenders will be kicked
click here for the details of Budget Speech 2011
no comments? Every singaporean gets between $100 to $800, with 80% getting at least $600. Let's speculate on how the govt will collect this money back from us :)
No fantastic revamp of baby bonus....how to procreate? Well, we don't need to when there are millions of chinese and indians from china and india respectively on the waiting list.
Get money on 1st may...so elections is soon after? That's a good hint right.
Seems like too little incentives given out... Nobody interested to comment at all. LOL...
it's an election budget.. just the slight increase on tobacco, not much here nor there, no more tv and radio licenses..
malaise? maybe..
Fewer Singaporeans watching TVs nowadays.As for Radios Singaporeans are getting richer so it is not relevant anymore.
Originally posted by Budget2011:Fewer Singaporeans watching TVs nowadays.As for Radios Singaporeans are getting richer so it is not relevant anymore.
you created a handle just to write that?
anyway, it doesn't matter if people watch it or not, it was free money for the gabrament..
If Haiti got such free money for its people who are many times poorer than us, it will be good.Singaporeans are too rich and they treat this kind of free money as peanuts.
They withdrew the sure-earn TV and radio licenses? That means billions of dollars over a few years. Hurh hurh, be prepared for higher GST. If I'm Tharman, I wouldn't make Singapore Inc lose the money without getting it back.
And the grow and share package.....those short term cash is not going to bridge the freaking gini coefficient. Nevertheless, me gonna take the money and vote opposition.
You all know what will really make a budget special? Have free education for kids all the way till secondary level. But they don't need to.....the population can be created with foreign imports anytime. The easy way out.
Hey anyone watching CNA now? Tharman is being interviewed. It seems more like a platform for PAP to tell sgporeans how they are helping the citizenry. The reporter asked Tharman if this budget is meant to coincide with the elections, his answer was this is definitely the last budget before elections is due in Feb 2012. LOL. And then he talked about how this budget is meant to help singaporeans. The reporter let it go at that and moved on to advertisement time.
Tame reporters we have huh?!?! All media prostitutes.
Change soup but not medicine.
We need more locals, we better follow what the french did. They are spending lots of happy time in bed despite economic gloom, but then this is PAP we are talking about. What to expect?
That's what they have started in around 2005.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/52654.php
their baby boom is still on.
http://www.newsweek.com/2011/01/30/france-le-baby-boom.html
We need a big giant paradigm shift, something that can really save Sinkapore, not all these cut here, cut there, give you a little and we will shed tears of joy.
budget serving free ban mein home delivery?
Guess here at this moment, beating mosquitoes, no one interested in the budget, maybe because it never budged a cent.
I am happy that radio and tv licence has been scrapped for good!
what's with the lack of comments in this thread lol. People can't be bothered......
lacklustre.
S'poreans give positive Budget feedback
Posted: 22 February 2011 1953 hrs
People cross at a pedestrian crossing in downtown Singapore |
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SINGAPORE: Government feedback unit REACH said it has received
generally positive responses from Singaporeans about Budget 2011.
Close to 30 per cent of the more than 600 feedback inputs REACH received were on growth payouts.
REACH said most people supported the government's move to share surpluses.
But
some felt the amount was not enough to cover rising costs, and others
felt it was unfair to base the payout on housing size.
Rewarding working Singaporeans was also a hot issue with 20 per cent commenting on it.
A majority of contributors welcomed the additional support for lower- and middle-income earners.
They also welcomed the removal of television and radio license fees, more progressive personal income tax schedule.
Most
were generally for the increase in Central Provident Fund (CPF)
contribution by employers, with a few suggesting the additional amount
be credited into the Ordinary Account or Minimum Sum instead of the
Special Account.
REACH said there were concerns that the higher CPF contribution would be an additional burden for employers.
Other hot issues were boosting workers' productivity and skills, and support for families with children.
Compared to the same time last year, REACH received three times more feedback inputs for Budget 2011.
The most active feedback channels were the REACH Online Discussion Forum, its Facebook page, and email.
REACH Chairman Amy Khor said contributors were largely happy with the Budget.
She
added that Budget 2011 has addressed Singaporeans' immediate concerns
about inflation without eroding the work ethic, while achieving
Singapore's long-term economic growth.
Members of public can continue to share their views on Budget 2011 on the REACH's dedicated Budget website.
-CNA/wk
Wahh.....singaporeans give positive feedback wor.......we are the freaking sizeable minority bunch of whiners here lol.
DOn't be too happy yet. Maybe in future they will imprement "pay to watch TV and listening to Radio scheme.
Budget 2011: Some Singaporeans left out of Budget, say MPs
By Hoe Yeen Nie | Posted: 01 March 2011 1945 hrs
Singapore Parliament |
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SINGAPORE: Day two of debates over the Budget statement saw MPs
voicing concern that some groups of Singaporeans had been left out. MPs
also appealed for more flexibility when implementing the measures.
It
is hard to be a single parent in Singapore, with no state maternity
benefits and no tax reliefs when hiring domestic help, which are granted
only to married women.
MPs said it is even harder for those in the low-income bracket.
MP
for Ang Mo Kio GRC, Dr Lam Pin Min said: "Single-parent families are
not specifically targeted by social security policies in Singapore.
Low-income single-parent families have to compete with other vulnerable
groups for means-tested social assistance. Even then, some assistance
programs have eligibility conditions that disqualify such families."
"In
many aspects of public policy and discourse, single-parent families are
looked upon as undesirable alternative household entities that are to
be discouraged and are thus excluded from some social services that are
available to 'normal' two-parent families."
Other MPs noted that the eligibility criteria for utilities rebates relied too much on the size of the occupant's HDB flat.
Michael
Palmer, MP for Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC, said: "The government's rationale
for this is that the occupants of these flats come from a higher income
bracket because they can afford to buy larger flats and therefore do
not require as much subsidy as those in the smaller flats.
"However,
often the occupants of the 4- and 5-room and Executive flats are not
only the owners and their children, but also one set of parents and
perhaps a younger brother or sister and even his or her family. What is
also quite common is that there is possibly only one main breadwinner
who supports the household, while the spouse looks after the children
and ageing parents. These residents feel the pinch of supporting more
dependants while receiving less help."
Instead he suggested
taking into account the household income and the number of members in
the family. Alternatively, he said rebates for utilities, and service
and conservancy charges could be set within a band for each flat size,
and the amount each household received could be based on household
income and family size.
MPs also said only the basic salary should be considered under the Workfare scheme.
It now has a monthly income cap of S$1,700, which includes overtime pay and allowances.
MP
for Tampines GRC Irene Ng cited the example of a resident, 59-year-old
Mr Kamaruzaman Abdul Rahman, who works as a pest controller. His basic
salary is S$1,100 which he supplements with a second job as a floor
polisher, which earns him S$800 a month.
Ms Ng said his combined
income, including allowances, comes up to S$2,000, and noted that he
also had reached the top end of his salary scale of S$32 a day as a pest
controller. That he does not qualify for Workfare "runs counter to
one's sense of social equity," she said.
"It is not uncommon for
some low-income workers to put in extra overtime to earn more money...as
for the low-income workers who hold two low-paying jobs, can the
minister consider a Workfare bonus and WIS (Workfare Income Supplement)
for them too, perhaps subject to a ceiling of maybe S$2,300 of the
combined basic salaries of their two jobs," added Ms Ng.
Her call
was echoed by Marine Parade MP Lim Biow Chuan, who suggested that the
income ceiling could also factor in the number of dependents in each
household.
While MPs supported the measures to help the low and
middle-income households, some thought they were being taken for
granted. With global uncertainty and its impact on Singapore's economy
yet unknown, they felt this was no time to breed what they called "a
culture of demand".
MP for Marine Parade GRC Dr Ong Seh Hong
said: "During a bad year, one expects reliefs and assistance packages.
This I can understand. However during a good year, if one also expects
goodies and bonuses, this indeed is not a healthy national culture."
MP for Jalan Besar GRC Heng Chee How agreed.
"We
must never kid ourselves into believing that money will come out of
nowhere. You can share in good years, but in bad years, where is the
money going to come from?"
And on the back of worries over a
widening income gap, some MPs asked that more resources be directed to
help those from low-income families move up the social ladder.
MP
Sin Boon Ann suggested that tax breaks be given to private sector
companies that offer internship or mentorship opportunities to students
from less-well-off households, while MP Cynthia Phua suggested that the
Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports consider making
kindergarten and childcare education free of charge for children from
low-income families.
-CNA/ac
We have seen this over the years, haven't we? PAP MPs act as the opposition to show we don't need real opposition. Remember how Lily Neo asked Vivien a few years back about the low assistance for the poor? The latter shot back and said if the poor want their makan in the hawker centre, food court or restaurant.
This time round....vote to show them who's boss!!
Aaiyah Rock^Star, PAP MPs act as opposition because the opposition is just too quite mah?
The opposition MPs only know how to ask the usual questions e.g. on human rights and low income. We need some credible opposition in the parliament who can really grill the PAP MPs on their economic principles on how they derived the budget.