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Recently, the property tax rates were release by IRAS and published in the Shit Times. It got me wondering. Clearly, property taxes have to be paid by the property owner. Even IRAS says that. So all these decades, IRAS have been levying and collecting property taxes from HDB flat dwellers. The only problem is that the HDB flat dwellers are not the owners of their flats. HDB is. The flat dwellers are merely tenants. It says so in their contract. BY this definition, since flat dwellers are not legally owners of their flats, IRAS must charge the HDB for the property taxes and not the flat dweller. For 5 room flats, it can be as much as $150 annually. Given that there are just over 1 million flats in Singapore and assuming an average of $100 per flat, IRAS collects $100 million a year in property taxes, a fairly substantial sum.
The have a registered mortgage on their flat, but that does not make them the owner. They merely borrowed the money from the bank to pre-pay their rent for 99 years upfront. Because the sum is so large, the banks need to register a mortgage on their deed. The "title deed" to their flat is released to them when all mortgages have been paid up. Even the so called Title Deed" clearly states that you do not own the flat. So at the end of the day, you are not the flat owner, then why is IRAS coming after you to pay the property tax? Be very clear that HDB is colluding with IRAS on this. HDB should be stepping up to the plate and paying these property taxes themselves instead of allowing IRAS to levy it. They might be even complicit with IRAS to squeeze out $100 million from the peasants.
This issue has been long overdue on the national stage, and should have been brought up during the last elections. How? By a very simple lawsuit, single or class action against the IRAS a few months before the election. The WP is populated with lawyers ranging from Pritam Singh, Sylvia Lim, Chen SHow Mao, etc. with the resources available to them from a $17,000 a month salary, at any time they could have filed a lawsuit against IRAS to stop the IRAS from collecting this tax and fight for a refund of all the years previous taxes back to the flat dwellers. I don't see how the lawsuit can fail, and if the WP wins, it would have resulted in flat dwellers getting potentially thousands of tax dollars in refund from IRAS. Do you think people would not follow the lawsuit leading up to the elections? At the very least, they can say the WP is doing something to help them, and it drives home the point that sinkies do not own their pigeon holes. All this during the election period. If they lose, it would still say something about their commitment to the people, to fight for them. If they win, and IRAS somehow refuses to give the refund, then the people can see the govt is playing dirty and it will cost them votes.
Some people will argue that the HDB agreement says you are still responsible for the things like conservancy fees, property taxes, etc. This may be through. But the HDB document is not law. Its just one of the conditions of your sales and purchase contract, no better then a policy in actual practice. The IRAS ability to define who can pay taxes and then collect it is a constitutional law. This is the law of the land. And the law of the land clearly says that only flat owners have to pay the property tax, not their tenants. Contrast this with a tenant in a private condo. Does IRAS levy the property tax against them specifically or against the condo owner? It obviously levies it against the owner. The same principal is not being applied to HDB flat dwellers, hence IRAS' collection of property taxes from HDB flat dwellers is outright illegal.
It does not take a genius to figure this out. WP should be taking the lead as they are the supposed official oppo. The fact they are strangely silent on this proof that they are non other then PAP lackeys. 70%s sinkies are dumber then dog shit.
The have a registered mortgage on their flat, but that does not make them the owner. They merely borrowed the money from the bank to pre-pay their rent for 99 years upfront. Because the sum is so large, the banks need to register a mortgage on their deed. The "title deed" to their flat is released to them when all mortgages have been paid up. Even the so called Title Deed" clearly states that you do not own the flat. So at the end of the day, you are not the flat owner, then why is IRAS coming after you to pay the property tax? Be very clear that HDB is colluding with IRAS on this. HDB should be stepping up to the plate and paying these property taxes themselves instead of allowing IRAS to levy it. They might be even complicit with IRAS to squeeze out $100 million from the peasants.
This issue has been long overdue on the national stage, and should have been brought up during the last elections. How? By a very simple lawsuit, single or class action against the IRAS a few months before the election. The WP is populated with lawyers ranging from Pritam Singh, Sylvia Lim, Chen SHow Mao, etc. with the resources available to them from a $17,000 a month salary, at any time they could have filed a lawsuit against IRAS to stop the IRAS from collecting this tax and fight for a refund of all the years previous taxes back to the flat dwellers. I don't see how the lawsuit can fail, and if the WP wins, it would have resulted in flat dwellers getting potentially thousands of tax dollars in refund from IRAS. Do you think people would not follow the lawsuit leading up to the elections? At the very least, they can say the WP is doing something to help them, and it drives home the point that sinkies do not own their pigeon holes. All this during the election period. If they lose, it would still say something about their commitment to the people, to fight for them. If they win, and IRAS somehow refuses to give the refund, then the people can see the govt is playing dirty and it will cost them votes.
Some people will argue that the HDB agreement says you are still responsible for the things like conservancy fees, property taxes, etc. This may be through. But the HDB document is not law. Its just one of the conditions of your sales and purchase contract, no better then a policy in actual practice. The IRAS ability to define who can pay taxes and then collect it is a constitutional law. This is the law of the land. And the law of the land clearly says that only flat owners have to pay the property tax, not their tenants. Contrast this with a tenant in a private condo. Does IRAS levy the property tax against them specifically or against the condo owner? It obviously levies it against the owner. The same principal is not being applied to HDB flat dwellers, hence IRAS' collection of property taxes from HDB flat dwellers is outright illegal.
It does not take a genius to figure this out. WP should be taking the lead as they are the supposed official oppo. The fact they are strangely silent on this proof that they are non other then PAP lackeys. 70%s sinkies are dumber then dog shit.