In his budget speech, Sengkang MP Louis Chua spoke about the surprising reality of Singapore’s public finances over the years, where higher than expected surpluses have been common since 2021, in spite of repeated estimates of annual deficits. It begs the question of whether the Government is consistently collecting more than it needs, and if raising the GST was required.
Nevertheless, in sharing the surpluses during this Year of Vouchers, Louis is mindful that with the General Elections around the corner, it is only natural for Singaporeans to view vouchers merely as “election handouts” tied to the political cycle rather than as assistance for economic woes. Rather than relying on one-off schemes that may be politicised, his view is for structural levers to be put in place instead.
Louis also focused on retirement adequacy and addressing inequality. He reiterated his call for CPF to implement the Lifetime Retirement Investment Scheme (LRIS) without delay to better boost members’ CPF returns. The scheme was first accepted by the Government back in 2016 but when asked in an interview recently, PM Wong had again hesitated about its merits.
On inequality, Louis said that while income inequality as measured by the GINI coefficient has narrowed, this was on the back of various short-term and one-off transfers, thus are these sustainable, and expected to persist? Beyond income, we must also address wealth inequality, which has risen nearly 23% in Singapore between 2008 to 2023 according to a report by UBS in 2024, the highest amongst 29 countries. While we have taken steps to improve inclusivity in our education system, more must be done to ensure that every child, regardless of background, has a fair shot at success.
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