SINGAPORE: The GST, which will also be raised from the current 7% to 9%, will be imposed on business-to-business (B2B) services like marketing, accounting, IT and management, and business-to-consumers (B2C) services like video and music streaming, apps, listing fees on electronic marketplaces, software and online subscription fees. United Overseas Bank had earlier estimated that every 1 percentage point increase in the GST rate would raise government revenue by an additional S$1.56 billion a year. Mr Heng also extended the rebate to Year of Assessment 2019, but at a lower rate of 20 per cent and capped at $10,000. The country’s surplus for 2017-2018 is around S$9.61 billion or over Rs47 thousand crore.
Mr Heng said that the review will consider global climate change developments, the progress of Singapore’s emissions mitigation efforts and its economic competitiveness. “This change will ensure that imported and local services are accorded the same treatment”. There were also goodies such as higher grants for Singaporeans, including singles, buying resale flats to live with or near their parents.
Those with an annual income of S$28,000 (Rs 13.76 lakh) or below will get S$300 each, while those with income more than S$100,000 (Rs 49.13 lakh) will get S$100 (Rs 4,912) each. The tax rate will be five dollars per ton of greenhouse gas emissions in the first instance from 2019 to 2023, and is expected to hike to between 10 and 15 Singapore dollars per ton by 2030.
