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Singapore Budget 2018 - Take a look inside the economics of Singapore



The Singapore Budget is prepared for each financial year. It includes revised government revenue and expenditure projections for the current financial year, as well as planned government revenue and expenditure for the upcoming financial year. 

The Budget 2018 statement to be delivered on Monday, 19 February 2018 by Minister of Finance, Mr. Heng Swee Keat in Parliament. 

Real time updates of key announcements and the budget statement will be posted on the MOF Facebook Page (www.facebook.com/MOFsg) and the MOF Twitter account (www.twitter.com/MOFsg).

Expectations from Budget:

  1. The Goods and Service Tax is likely to go up within the next few years, with an announcement expected as soon as Budget 2018. The Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, who told the PAP (People Action Party) that Singapore will be raising taxes as government spending grows particularly in health care and infrastructure. The Corporate and Individual taxes are low in Singapore but Indirect taxes (GST) make up for it. Around the world there is an increasing shift from direct taxes to indirect taxes.
  2. The rise in Health Care Bill is to take care of ageing population and tech advances.
  3. The Government is also exploring alternative avenues for raising revenue including e-commerce taxes. The government is studying the best way to implement an e-commerce tax. E-commerce tax refers to the sales tax associated with an online sale. Sales tax is a small percentage of a sale tacked on to that sale by an online retailer.
  4. Singapore economy expanded 3.6 percent last year - faster than estimates - thanks largely to strong growth in the manufacturing sector. The growth rate in 2016 was 2.4 percent. The expected growth rate is 2018 is slower than last year.
  5. With real estate upturn, calls for the government to lift property cooling measures have tailed off noticeably. Tax-wise, the government may once again tweak property taxes to make them more progressive. One way is to raise taxes on properties of higher values or non-owner occupied properties. With GST rates increasing the construction cost will increase and developers margin may decrease. 
  6. Businesses in Singapore requested to soften foreign manpower restrictions to fuel growth and expansion. The aim is to bring highly skilled talent especially in fast growing sectors such as cyber security and data analytics.
  7. Personal Income Tax are among the lowest in world. The tax rate for top earners is 22 percent. The average is 30% in Asia and 35% in America and Europe.
  8. As tax competition heating up across the world as the US lowers rates, its unlikely Singapore will move in the opposite direction. Finance Minister gave no hints of tax adjustments. 
We will be sharing all the updates related to taxes in Singapore budget that will be announced next week. Subscribe to our blog from right pane subscribe option and stay updated with developments across the world related to taxes and social security.

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