12/01/2006

Wonder Drug GST LSD was the wonder drug in the 60s and 70s. Today the wonder drug for Singaporeans is GST. This is the drug that will give a boost to all the dying and hungry poor Singaporeans. With a 2% shot, they will all be better off. Now this is a really brilliant thing and deserves to be applauded. The only reservation is this comment from Tharman, 'And once the GST kicks in, there will be no increase in Govt fees - including conservancy charges and car park fees - for one year, said Shanmugaratnam.' So, will the drug continues the feel good effect after one year? I read some of the comments on GST and suggestions to fine tune it to make it less painful on the poor. And it seems that it is too big a trouble to exempt basic necessities from GST. They have problems to tax on higher quality rice. And the same logic was quoted about GST on takeaway food in Britain. Such examples reflect on the meaness in the thinking process. So what, let everybody eat rice and if people can afford to eat better quality rice or choose to save a little GST by opting for takeaway food, is that so disgusting to accept? Why would people have nightmares on such trivialities? And to insist on GST on basic necessities I can forsee that more food vouchers will be issued and there will be long queues at NTUC outlets for people to get them. The only consideration that could come from this alternative will be more means testing to see who can qualify for food vouchers. I better prepare meself to be in the queue too. But need to know what are the criteria first. First thing to do is to cancel all my bank accounts, hide whatever cash under the bed, sell off the cars temporarily, maybe downgrade to a two room flat. I am looking forward to the GST jab.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Food is a basic human need. It is immoral to tax something that is a basic human need. In Australia, basi food items like rice, salt, sugar, flour are all exempt from GST. Water bills also do not attract GST. if they can do it, I don't see why we can't.

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

cannot pick and choose which country to compare to suit your interpretation lah.

must standardise and use timbuctoo as our reference point for all things except salary.

Anonymous said...

timbuktoo don't charge gst. Everyone lives in trees. Food is whatever you can pick up in the vast jungle. To answer the call of nature, just dig a hole in the ground and let 'er rip. It's blasphemous to even think you use such a country as a comparison for our oh-so-first world country.

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

don't worry, when we run out of countries to use as an example, someone will use timbuctoo. examples used for comparison are selected based on their usefulness to the user and not on their appropriateness and relevance.