All out woes are blamed by the PAP on a single plank of reason - low birth rate amongst Singaporeans. We need the birth rate to not only go past the replacement rate but a little higher to support the ageing population. The govt has in the past has used attractive tax incentives based on educational criteria to encourage childbirth. Obviously it is not working as expected.
So the simple solution is to encourage immigration. The door slowly opened based on strict criteria initially. Then our not so creative and lazy businessmen and those who were keen exploit cheap labour muscled in politically and forced open the door wide. Suddenly what was intentioned to address the low birth rate became joy-juice for all businesses.
Proposal : Save our Country by providing an allowance on a monthly basis for every kid born until they reach the age of 18. The allowance will cover schooling costs, transportation to school and basic food allowance. $200 up to Primary 6, $300 until O levels and $450 until A levels. Lets call it Singaporean Baby Fund.
Entry Criteria : One parent must have served NS in full. Both parents must be born a Singaporean. No exception.
Who is going to pay: This is common sense and extrapolation. If we can buy submarines, F16, F15, maintain overseas bases in 1st world countries, pay to keep entire families overseas to man the bases, pay the world's highest salaries for our Political leaders, pay millions to CEOs of state GLCs some of whom cannot even understand the meaning of sinking fund and having a maintenance regime, profits from our 2 delightful sovereign funds etc, there should not be a problem taking a fraction from their respective operating expenditure and calling it the Save Singapore Surcharge and for profit entites Save Singapore Tax. 0.5% would be good enough based on my back of the ipad(envelope) calculations.
Secondary Tax : This is tax for cheap and useless businessmen who exploit cheap foreign labour without investing in productivity systems or run businesses who should not be viable except for cheap labour. Its a powerful incentive to force to upgrade, work harder and run a first class business.
Many first world countries do just that.
What are your thoughts?
So the simple solution is to encourage immigration. The door slowly opened based on strict criteria initially. Then our not so creative and lazy businessmen and those who were keen exploit cheap labour muscled in politically and forced open the door wide. Suddenly what was intentioned to address the low birth rate became joy-juice for all businesses.
Proposal : Save our Country by providing an allowance on a monthly basis for every kid born until they reach the age of 18. The allowance will cover schooling costs, transportation to school and basic food allowance. $200 up to Primary 6, $300 until O levels and $450 until A levels. Lets call it Singaporean Baby Fund.
Entry Criteria : One parent must have served NS in full. Both parents must be born a Singaporean. No exception.
Who is going to pay: This is common sense and extrapolation. If we can buy submarines, F16, F15, maintain overseas bases in 1st world countries, pay to keep entire families overseas to man the bases, pay the world's highest salaries for our Political leaders, pay millions to CEOs of state GLCs some of whom cannot even understand the meaning of sinking fund and having a maintenance regime, profits from our 2 delightful sovereign funds etc, there should not be a problem taking a fraction from their respective operating expenditure and calling it the Save Singapore Surcharge and for profit entites Save Singapore Tax. 0.5% would be good enough based on my back of the ipad(envelope) calculations.
Secondary Tax : This is tax for cheap and useless businessmen who exploit cheap foreign labour without investing in productivity systems or run businesses who should not be viable except for cheap labour. Its a powerful incentive to force to upgrade, work harder and run a first class business.
Many first world countries do just that.
What are your thoughts?
