High rental good

Speaking in an exclusive interview with Current.com.au, the Harvey Norman co-founder and executive chairman rent rises of up to 50 per cent in one year, coupled with leases restricted to three years, meant all major electrical retailers there were under pressure. "The rents are just horrendous, and trying to figure out how you can do business is a really difficult thing, because you think 'Well, how do you do this?'" He said all three major players in the Singapore electrical retail market – Courts, Harvey Norman and Best Denki – had the same issues. "We all have the same problem, and probably sooner or later one of the three of us will disappear, and there'll be two of us. Then there's a good chance there'll be one of us." I copied the above extract from a post in Sammyboyforum. The rent hike is getting crazier by the days. A small foodstall in a refurbished aircon foodcourt will cost more than $13k a month in the new towns. Can't imagine what it will cost in town or big shopping centres. And how many bowls of noodles would the stallholder need to sell before he breaks even? But we should encourage the property owners to raise rent faster. Then the effect will be more dramatic. It is like blowing a balloon.

Thank you Maggie Mee and all instant noodles

Maggie Mee the saviour The shadow hovers over me but I am strong for my baby My baby sleeps so sweetly beside me She is my only reason to live, to die, to laugh and to cry Tonight is reunion dinner night, most stores are closed I'll have maggi mee and teh or Happy New Year everyone .. life is tough, but it is not so bad, can survive, got someone to love and got internet The above is posted by Downgrader in Sammyboyforum.

Budget time and more goodies

If there is anything to look forward to, Singaporeans should be eagerly waiting for Budget Day on 15 Feb. With all the collections, the govt should be rich enough to return some to the people when Tharman make his budget speech. We have had ERS and Singapore shares before. This time we may have GYAP or Golden Years Ang Pow for all Singaporeans. It will be a nice handout for the new year, and for more good years to come. In the past every budget day is likely to see more tax hikes. Nowadays every budget day is like waiting for the 4D results and see how much one is going to strike. Budget Day is now a Red Letter Day. We should have budget day for every parliament seating. It is better than anything else raised in parliament.

Spare a thought for the less well off

George Yeo urged firms not to increase prices unnecessarily and to spare a thought for the less fortunate. 'Mr Yeo urged businesses not to forget the less fortunate, particularly when times are hard. He said, "Inflation, because of high fuel and food prices, is a problem. And it is a concern for all Singaporeans, especially for those who are less well-off. "I also hope that those of us who are in business, yes, we have to adjust prices, because the input costs are high, but where it is not necessary to increase prices, it's good to spare a thought for ordinary Singaporeans who will be affected." ' A very surprising call actually. Times are hard? Since when? We are in an economic boom, golden years, full employment, everyone is getting richer with housing prices shooting to the sky. What hard times? Prices did not go up yesterday. And who have been jacking up all the prices? And who have been saying that it can't be helped? Do these big organisations, including the hospitals and transport companies ever spare a thought to the people when they raised prices? But they did. They made sure that the increases were all very affordable. Maybe George is living in a different paradise. The rest are still partying every night in the land of possibilities.

Personal Tax cut

Budget Personal tax cut? Singapore government may cut personal tax from 20 to 18% as inflation soars and growth slows, reports Thomson Financial. Feb 6, 2008 By Jonathan Burgos The Singapore government is expected to announce a cut in personal income tax to cushion consumers as inflation accelerates and growth slows this year, analysts said. Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam is expected to announce the tax cuts when he unveils the budget for the year to March 2009 in parliament on Feb 15.... 'The inflationary consequences of the GST hike have significantly raised costs of living for the lower-income groups,' Kit said. It will be politically difficult for the government to roll back the GST, but Kit believes the budget will introduce a generous one-off package to offset inflation. To do this effectively, the government will have to do more than reduce the personal income tax rate, since fewer than 30 percent of Singaporeans pay income tax, said Tay Hong Beng, executive director for corporate tax at KPMG. Individuals whose annual taxable income is less than 20,000 dollars are not required to pay tax. The government may increase tax reliefs, Tay said. It could, for example, exempt medical bills from the GST. Health care costs rose 6.3 percent last year. I copied the above from www.littlespeck.com My immediate reaction is who will benefit from a tax cut? I will benefit a little. But most of the people suffering from the rising prices are not going to benefit from a tax cut as Kit had pointed out in the above article. What is needed is to bring down the rising costs of things and services that are within the control of the govt. The things that will affect the bulk of the population at the lower income end, food and essential services, must be looked at seriously. And the regressive GST that taxed more on the lower income group, is not helping the poorer people. All the handouts are a one off thing. When are we going to stop taxing on the poor so heavily?