GST hike will not increase cost of living

'The Ministry of Finance has countered a student’s view that the impending Goods and Services Tax (GST) hike will increase the cost of consumer goods and further disadvantage those who earn lower incomes.

During his Budget speech last year, Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat announced that the GST will increase by two per cent. This tax hike will raise the GST from the current seven per cent to nine per cent and will be implemented sometime between 2021 and 2025, in a progressive way.
21-year-old Marcus Aw Chen Feng, an undergraduate student, has asserted that the impending GST hike can “negatively affect economic growth” and further disadvantage the needy....'

The above is posted in theindependent.sg with the title 'Finance Ministry counters student’s view that GST hike will increase the cost of goods and disadvantage the needy'. It asserted that MOF counters the student's view which I think is incorrect for two reasons. 

First, GST hike will definitely not lead to higher cost of living in Singapore. This has always been the case since the first hike and will always be the case, and this case would not be different. This is my personal view. Anyone got data to prove otherwise? In fact GST is always to help the poor and is always a good thing in exceptional Singapore. I can't say this about other countries.

My second point is drawn from the very well crafted reply by MOF. Never did they said anything about hike or no hike in cost of living in its reply. So they could also be admitting that there would be a hike in cost of living without saying no to it. But their reply suggested that the hike is good, meant to help the poor as before. So they are not countering the student's view and it is wrong to say that they were saying otherwise.  Read on.

'In response to Marcus’ letter, MOF’s director of Corporate Communications Lim Yuin Chien asserted that the GST that is collected will “support public spending that benefits Singaporeans.”

In his own forum letter published by the Straits Times, Lim reiterated Minister Heng’s reasons for the GST hike – that it is necessary to support rising expenditure in caring for an ageing population, keeping Singapore safe from security threats, and investing in early childhood education.

The MOF representative added that the Government will “fully absorb GST on subsidised education and subsidised healthcare” for lower-income households and will continue implementing the GST Voucher Scheme “to defray costs for lower-income households and seniors.”'

See, I am right in my reading of the MOF reply, right?