I was at a GST increase dialogue last night, chaired by Mr Yeo Cheow Tong.
The reasons given for the GST increase were many. I'll list 2 reasons listed in the Powerpoint last night here.
I'll not reiterate many of the points stated by the Govt.
And last night, I asked Mr Yeo..."I've not thought about this completely, but it seems to me that the purpose of the 2% GST increase is for income redistribution". And I pressed on: "If that's the case, why not implement a tax for the savings of the very rich?" (Something along that particular line) My point and thought was that, that way, the very rich people will have to spend their money in their savings in order to avoid getting taxed, and that way, we can use the money spent by the rich to help the low and middle income people.
Instead of answering my question, Mr Yeo, ever the politician, chose to pick on my choice of words, and said that it's not about income redistribution, and talked about Russia, Norway, etc, hence avoiding the answering of my "taxing the savings of the very rich" question.
Indeed, it's a deliberate decision to avoid answering my question, since when another person in the audience asked a question, Mr Yeo said he knew what that person was asking.
Mr Yeo also mentioned 2 facts which were not previously public (I thought).
After I left the GST dialogue, something occured to me. I was dressed in the familiar blue colour of the opposition Worker's Party...