Dear1 Dear2

The frenzy these few days must have been the GST increase, from 5% to 7%. Of course, the other talk of the town must be the GST relief package (whatever its actual name is) that everyone should have received by now. The amount of money a person receives is calculated in some complicated way that the layman is not suppose to understand. Anyway, one important indication of how much a person receives is by his registered address on the NRIC. Now, this throws up a few questions.

If I’m not wrong, and please correct me if I am, a person is suppose to update his NRIC address with the neighbourhood police post if he is going to be staying in that place for 2 weeks or more. And I can’t emphasis how easy it is to change ur NRIC address. This also implies that one do not have to own a flat or be in the immediate family of the flat owner in order to change his address to that house. Does that mean that if I own a condo and am a rich man, but I decide to rent out my condo, and myself rent a tiny little 2-room HDB flat, and hence I change my address to the 2-room flat one, then I’m considered to be ’staying’ in a small HDB unit and hence considered a ‘poor’ citizen and that I should receive a large cut of the GST relief package?

Next question. I think Singaporeans are known to be a little asset rich and cash poor, meaning we own lucrative property and such but suffer with poor cash flows. Again, is this a good indication of needy-ness. I think many people are stuck with big houses because they bought it during the property boom back in the 90’s and is suffering a paper loss right now. I believe the type of housing that a person stays in is a reflection of his personality and lifestyle, and definitely not an indication of wealth.

That being said, I do understand the need for a ‘quick fix’ solution to evaluating the financial status of each and every citizen in the country. Eventhough we may have a small population, but it’s still a daunting task to develop a fair and unbiased evaluation function and finally implementing it. The labour intensive nature of such a task is quite apparent. But in the end, I think, it’s their job. It’s one of the reasons why we pay their so much salary in the first place.

Ok, that’s it about GST. No more GST posts from me. Take it in my stride and move on.

-Dear1