HOMEOWNERS: be prepared to pay higher property taxes next year.
HELP keep the voice of TOC alive!
If you like this article, please consider a small donation to help theonlinecitizen.com stay alive. Please note that we can only accept donations from Singaporeans. Thank you for your assistance.Do you have a flair for writing? Volunteer with us. Email us your full name and contact details to theonlinecitizen@gmail.com
Costs keep going up and up. However, the salaries of many Singaporeans have fallen drastically.
GST is expected to go up to 15% after the elections.
Now is the time for Change.
.. this was expected…
but they say there will be a One-Off Rebate..
I figure they jacked up the Tax amount then configure in the Rebate and make it seem all so good…
This comes as no surprise whatsoever.
Cost of Living will rise and rise.
injoy! hahahaha! spending money shiok man.
To #1 New Era
There is really no basis for you to allege that the GST will rise “after the elections” and that to up to “15%”.
You are just using wild allegations to support your claim for “change” when there is really no need to.
@nicholas lazarus #4
yes.
there is no need for change when the property prices reached a record high per sqf.
there is no need for change when the tax, according to the government, will keep getting higher.
there is no need for change when we are being duped as to the quality of life in singapore.
there is no need for change when everything gets more expensive and the only way in help our government is prepared to give is exhortations of “upturn the downturn” and to be “cheaper, better, faster”.
Yes.
There is no need for change.
2010 will see government giving us some gst credits and announcing some good news. but after election..
GST will go up after election to 10%, so will be the ministers’ salary standing at $3M + 12 months discretionary. They would adjust 40% since they have a small cut during recession.
ERPs/HDBs/Electricity/Rental and many other things will be furthered adjust and the same slogan would be used -> Singaporeans to be cheaper-faster-better.
Anyway, they imported many Jet Lis, rich PRCs etc.. so it is ok for us to become minority citizens and continue to complain.
any surprise ?
how else, they are spewing out both private and public all over the island ?
good regular yearly revenue stream ? all so predictable.
“To soften the impact, a one-off rebate is being introduced to help HDB homeowners adjust to the increase.”
tears are now uncontrollably pouring out of my face after knowing that such generous gesture still exists in this wonderful world.
“4) Nicholas Lazarus on November 19th, 2009 4.11 pm
To #1 New Era
There is really no basis for you to allege that the GST will rise “after the elections” and that to up to “15%”.”
well, who is going to lose out if most of the schizophrenic assumptions (speculation) gets proven wrong at the end except maybe for ????????????
Re: Nicholas Lazarus on November 19th, 2009 4.11 pm
Re: New Era on November 19th, 2009 2.42 pm
Nic you are right. There’s no basis for New Era for 15% GST post elections. HOWEVER, I have plenty of basis for 10.7% GST post election.
GST jumped from 3% to 4% then 5% after 2001 election (66.7% increase). It jumped from 5% to 7% after 2006 election (40% increase). Taking their average, we can expect a 53.3% increase which translate to 10.73% GST.
My analysis is based on trends. Since we have financial professionals whose full time job is to do technical analysis or trend reading. I guess my analysis is a basis.
Our model is following Japan model, everything would be extremely expensive, HDB shelters would become unaffordable soon. How about our wage compared to Japanese?
@ 9) Roy
eh brudder!! Did you do mental sums or was it a calculation with Excel!! Power lah!!!
Trends are all we can rely on as we have little say in policy making (except where some of us are invited for special lunches to share our views with other special people) and all we can do is to grin and bear it when policy is rolled out (over us). I want to draw special mention to legislations like the one granting more salary to our political appointment holders – will I EVER have a say in that without actually being one of the beneficiaries of such policies?
In other countries, I would demonstrate in front of parliament to show that I think this is not fair but, in Singapore, I would be arrested for disturbing the peace. What about my peace of mind??
Here they go again, raising each and every taxes and passing them back to the people. Be prepared for more to come, especially after the next coming GE. More gantries would take effect, higher utilities tariff, higher GST, higher road tax or petrol tax, higher and higher, they really do need the extra $$$ to balance the books and projected ministers’ pay increaments.
vote for more better years – cheaper better and faster.
Only the majority of the huge influx of foreigners would be able to afford higher property tax. The majority of Singaporeans will probably commit suicide by then.
9) Roy
////My analysis is based on trends. Since we have financial professionals whose full time job is to do technical analysis or trend reading. I guess my analysis is a basis. /////
Same basis that got us into this global financial mess. Assuming the future is an extrapolation of the past.
Why nobody make noise to the government about the adjustment in the property tax. Again, we allow them to rise as they wish. Don’t thinks what US President that that the the recession is over as what they mention. Still a long way to go, consumer are still caution in their spending. As what US President Obama said in one of his speech : The Amercian will spend less and save more! Don’t expect the these present time will get better soon, wait for another year.
Most families are buying HDB to stay , and probably would not make any income from rental , however high the property prices / rental rates rise .
It would not really benefit them , unless they are emigrating
It would be good , if property tax is raised for those that are rented , or for those that have more than 1 property .
The increase in property tax is just to raise monies for the government , for whatever reasons they intended . Next to rise … maybe is TV licence ???
15) KopitiamApek on November 19th, 2009 7.08 pm
I agree. But in retrospect, the trend analysis that led us into this mess are analysis that ignored fundamentals. Analyst who stuck to fundamentals have all called the sub-prime crisis accurately. Those include Nouriel Roubini and Andy Xie.
We have digressed. The fundamentals to the ruling party are: welfare for citizens last. I think if we stick to the fundamentals we should be fairly confident.
You sure or NOT on November 19th, 2009 5.42 pm
We follow Japan? They dun have NS, their foreign talent policies are very tight, they have social welfare and they allow sale of porn (we can’t even have chewing gum) .. =P..
19) Roy on November 19th, 2009 7.57 pm
They ONLY follow the high cost of living… you know them they always compare high to low, low to high, always win. We living in first world country but often compare to third world.. but when comes to pay and policies, we compare to third world… not first world.
18) Roy
My version if I may:
The fundamentals of a nation (ruling party’s fundamentals ideally must be in congruent) are in order of priority:
1.Survival of the country (economically, socially)
2 leading to welfare for citizens.
we stick to the fundamentals we should be do ok.
to do #1 effectively, we will sometimes need to face hard choices
19) Roy
Japan dun have NS because of the post WW2 constitution (rammed down their throat as losers by US the winners) there is a clause which renounce war
Japan allow sale of porn (we can’t even have chewing gum) .- why pay for it when it is all free in the net? did we lose anything here by not having in spewed all over the streets?
16) Yang on November 19th, 2009 7.09 pm
“Why nobody make noise to the government about the adjustment in the property tax. Again, we allow them to rise as they wish.”
We are patiently waiting for the elections. Then we will vote for Change.
I don’t think anyone will just standby and wait for GST to reach 15% before we act.
Time for Change is now.
KopitiamApek on November 19th, 2009 9.11 pm
“2 leading to welfare for citizens.”
Really? Perhaps we are not the “harvest stage after so many years” …. Time is running out for the ruling party. For a start, they may want to provide some form of compensation to the citizens males who serve NS, graduated with the same honours degree achieved by the FTs that FTs get.
Also its time to stop raising fares to ensure continued profitability of public transport and utilities companies over the welfare of her citizens.
Oh and the recent increase in ppty tax, make it applicable only to FTs. The 10Million we set aside to make them feel more welcome? Match that 10M with a 10Million for the old and destituted who helped built this country from a fishinh village to an asian tiger.
22) KopitiamApek on November 19th, 2009 9.18 pm
agree except for this:
“did we lose anything here by not having in spewed all over the streets? ”
I have been to Japan many times never stepped on them… If you say bcos locals are not as civic minded and cannot be trusted, I say let them learn…
the property tax flies away, while the estate duty dies off.
good basis to say that pap government rewards the rich and powerful, but squeezes blood from the rest.
guys, and to think this is done BEFORE the election.
don’t ever say you din see it coming when more tax is rammed down your throat AFTER the election.
Next in line will be fuel, transportation, utilities, market/hawker/HDB shops and stall rentals, price of sugar and rice after tremendous increase in housing/property prices. Simply put, most essentials can be expected to rise in the very near future. As for GST, it is likely to be raised after the Next Election
The Population is quickly increased to generate consumptions and with neccessary consumptions getting higher comes the opportunity for all the businesses and the Tax Department to strike.
THE MOST UNFORTUNATE AND SADDEST PART OF THE LATEST INCREASE IN PROPERTY TAX IS THAT THOSE WHO OWN THE SMALLER UNITS ARE THE WORST HIT(AFFECTED). And most owners of smaller flats are normally the poorer and major segment of the Population.
patriot
A few months ago, the Multi-Millionaire Ministers came out with a new tax, called the property gains tax, to be made effective in January 2010. However, due to overwhelming objects from feedbacks, this new tax was withdrawn.
The gist of why it has been withdrawn (possibly held in abeyance for the time being) can be discerned from Second Finance Minister Lim Hwee Hua’s statement below:
“We wanted to give some certainty to a group of property owners. But it looks like there was some confusion and people were a little concerned about what the signals were. So based on the feedback, we decided that since that is not going to be well-understood, it is probably advisable to withdraw that proposal.”
Read the CNA report here:
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1000355/1/.html
That was the background.
Now, if the Finance Ministry is desperate for more money (perhaps to feed the hungry stomachs of Temasek and GIC?) what is the next best thing to do if the property gains tax has already been shot down?
Take away the word “gains” lah. Just increase the property tax. Simple as that, isn’t it?
When the going gets tough, the tough gets going!
“Japan allow sale of porn (we can’t even have chewing gum) .- why pay for it when it is all free in the net? did we lose anything here by not having in spewed all over the streets?”
japan allows extremes more than us – so they have the best and worst stretched to both ends. some of the creative juice coming out from something bad can at times be positively transferred to produce something good – however you need to do it in practice in order to refine it.
just look at japan and the many patents and products that they have clocked.
here, we have plenty of mission statements – and so we need a lot of foreign talents.
The financial crisis was due to property market in some ways.
derivatives.credit schemes.
Now i keep hearing on Radio 20K annual salary can get a credit card.
Why is history seem like gonna repeat itself?
everytime, countries say they have learnt the lesson.
Every now and then, FINANCIAL CRISIS.
The Dirty truth about Greed.
Never offend those PAP guys lol. They are quite vengeful one and petty.
U remember Lee says that okies, we know how you guys feel about the HDB and then they released press news that they will make it affordable to us all.
And then they say: Let increase the Property tax to pay them pay for making noise!
Why are we paying property tax anyway? We only lease from HDB 99 years and we dont own our homes! Yes, 80% of the sg do not actually own their homes unlike other countries!
We r not living in freehold, why are you making us pay? Even Japan, they do own their homes! Not us! U take us for suxers!
The Wind Of Change is blowing.
It is time to for the power to be handed back to the people from the scumbags whom we delegated to.
I know I could’nt do much but I will vote for the opposition (If there is) & boo as loud as I can during the PAP rallies.
ministers pay go higher and higher and want us to go cheaper better faster what is this
It’s almost a formula…
Charge citizen extra, and in the same breath give rebates. When they increased GST, iirc, didn’t they give rebate also. Of course, the rebates won’t be there the following year….
so does this mean immigrants who rent will have to absorb some of it? prb not.
at this rate e govt panders after them, it seems that they intend to replace present citizens who cant take the taxes and leave with more ‘foreign talent’ as potential voters
Progress indeed.
I think this is just the tip of the ice berg that’s going to hit Singaporeans next year. During the recession, they cant really increase anything as it would be seen as ‘heartless’, but now, they have announced that the recession is over; it’s time for them to make up lost ground!! Many a times, they would put some icing on the cake before an election & after that; everything will increase through the roof. I am sure it wont be the last & looking at how much those GIC lost over the last 15 months or so, I can safely say that they need money to fill up the cracks. Mind you, these cracks aren’t those thin ones we see in our HDB but rather they are like roads broken into pieces in 2012. It takes much more than a few plates of fried noodles from each of us & it’s really scary as none of us lesser mortals really know how deep the crater is! Nothing & nobody have questioned them on the numbers & thus, everything is swept under a giant carpet.
They would try all means to stop us from withdrawing our CPF & feed us with nonsense that we will blow all our money in Batam or on some China gal; yes, these things do happen but please let us decide how we want to spend our hard earned money. I just received my Radio & TV license & they are charging me S$110 for rubbish on telly. It’s always the usual crap portraying men that are unfaithful when they go to China for a work trip or some nosey aunties that controlled their husbands on a leash! I have already given up on MediaCorp & prefer to watch History or Star! I really think this property tax increase is just part of their plan to get back what they have lost during the global financial crisis; instead of thinking how to increase their business profitability overseas, all these million dollar ministers could think of is to tax us whatever ways possible! Sigh…… I am sure ERP, GST, petrol, FT levy will follow soon!
The papy govt is working for the sole aim of enriching papy members, not for the masses.
Don’t be fooled by their offer of rebates or handouts.
For every dollar of rebate or handout they give you, they will take back from you, many times over, in devious ways that you may not see, unless you are circumspect and look at the whole picture, not a tiny part of it.
I recall that when the govt reduced the maid levy, Singapore Post jacked up the rental cost for its post boxes. The rental cost for each post box was increased significantly – around 100 percent or more. Why? Presumably, as one of the ways to off-set the lower intake of revenue in maid levy.
This govt needs to be kicked out, pronto!