11/19/2009
Good news to HDB owners
The tax department has confirmed that the annual value(AV) of their flats have gone up because the values of the flats have gone up and also, these flats can now fetch higher rentals. And the increases were very small given the huge increases in the resale prices of flats. Compare to increases in values of tens or hundreds of thousands, a hundred dollar increase is chicken feat really. I am sure all flat owners would not mind paying more taxes if their flats can be sold for a million or two.
And good news for the smaller flat owners. They don't have to pay for the higher property tax. There is a one year rebate! Only the bigger flats need to pay, and the bigger the flats, the bigger the tax increases except for bigger executive flats.
But the statisticians will have reasons to be argumentative when they look at the percentages of increases. A 3 rm flat will have to pay $72 more from $2.17. Now how many hundred percent increase is that? Every $2.17 is 100%. The number is too big for my calculator. A ball park number is like 3,600% increase! 4 rm flat will pay $97 more from $46.96. This is easily 200%! 5rm and executive flats have smaller increases of about 100%.
I am not going to split hairs on these increases and why the smaller and obviously poorer flat owners should be hit with that kind of percentage increases. What I am looking at is that the majority of HDB flat owners are living in their own flats, their homes, not for letting and also there are many rules prohibiting them from renting their flats.
The AV can shoot to the sky, but many HDB flat owners cannot benefit from them. No renting, cannot rent. Only those who need the money or those who have many properties can benefit from the high AVs. Why lump all HDB owners into the same category and make them pay higher taxes when the benefits of high AV is academic and perceived, unreal?
For those who are waiting for the flats to hit $1m, no problem. Let the AV go higher. When the $1m target is rich, just sell and get out of the property ownership trap. Oops, 99 year property leasing trap to some.
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14 comments:
I tell you man, those who invent the tax laws occasionally come up to pure genius.
I wish I had the means to earn money simply by defining what other people own and how I can get a piece of the action.
Enjoy the one year rebate, you pathetic paupers!
Matilah is right, those who make decisions that negatively affect the ordinary man in the hardland have no idea what the day to day life is like for the downtroddened. For the decision and the law makers, song, dance and laugh your way to the Swiss or Singapore banks.
Yup - the blardy property tax based on AV is just nonsensical...
Most of us won't be able to benefit from it (can't rent, can't sell or downgrade)...
The MIW tells us that our "asset" has risen in value (which we cannot see, touch or enjoy) and then tax us based on that...
And AV almost never goes down, only up!
the AV is like money in CPF. feel so good when the numbers get bigger and bigger.
but cannot touch and cannot benefit. higher AV is more an extra burden to most of HDB flat owners.
I feel so rich when I look at my property tax bill!
Several years ago a well-known KL lawyer shared a similar idea with me.
I "complained" about the excessive amount in taxes I pay in Australia to none other than the Australian governmentS (plural) -- i.e. whinging about being a constant 'victim" of extortion, armed robbery and rape by local, state and federal governments. The belief here is:
"To prevent one government from "taking over", let's have THREE... at least... for the time being. We can increase it later if we need to."
Anyway.. you get the drift. You profit, they tax you. Even if you profit by buying stuff -- the GST on nearly all purchases. Including sms messages.
So this fucking arsehole KL lawyer's rejoinder to me:
"Who asked you to make money? No money, no tax!"
But wait, maybe he has something there.
From that moment on, I considered the proposition of becoming a beach bum ...
with gst, even beach bums are taxed as long as you buy. the retirees and little babies are taxed. they consumed. the down and out are taxed, they consumed.
no running away mate.
Exactly.
You cannot get away totally from govt -- but you can decrease the influence of govt on your life.
I look forward to the days where entire countries collapse, governments disappear...and... aw fuck it... I'm dreaming again.
In dreams we find ultimate solace,
dream on.....
patriot
Patriot, I'm not attacking you but I've always found that ideas like "peace" or "solace" intolerably boring.
Where there is chaos, danger and uncertainty, there's incalculable opportunity.
Govt interference adds to the chaos and to the entropy -- the decay and destruction of systems. Look up: The 2nd Law of Thermodynamics.
When you have entropy, you have opportunity because things are falling apart.
hi Xtrocious, sorry for this belated welcome. thought you were here before.
cheers.
Matilah Singapura:
You really got to pardon peasant like me who is amongst the lots that are likely victims to system devoid of humanities.
Too old, too weak and too poooorrr to seize any opportunity. Just wish to be healthy and be less exploited and be happy. Very simple wants, so to say, even then, they are hard to come by.
patriot
Hey patriot,
Like I said -- I'm not attacking you. I was simply stating my ideas which tend to be "different".
As for pardons -- rest assured I've made lots of mistakes in the past and will continue to make them. No oe is "perfect" and life is "uncertain". There's the rub -- you have imperfection and uncertainty "entangled" together... so expect it to get interesting.
Mr Matilah Singapura:
Got You Sir! It's nice to have your company.
From: patriot
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