Have you signed the "Say NO to 7% GST in Singapore!" petition yet?

To: Singapore Government

We, citizens of Singapore and concerned individuals, STAUNCHLY OPPOSE the impending 40% increase in GST to 7%. We see *NO JUSTIFICATION* for this increase.

The increase will greatly burden both ordinary Singaporeans and businesses. It will only drive up the cost of living and business costs at a time when more than 40% of the households in Singapore cannot even make ends meet; CPF contribution rates by employers are being reduced; ordinary Singaporeans' real income is still deteriorating; fees, tariffs and fares are high and still being arbitrarily increased; and domestic businesses are suffering from Singaporeans' low purchasing power. More Singaporeans would be driven to commit suicide!

The Prime Minister claims that the increase is needed to help the poor. We find this excuse laughable and insulting to our intelligence for the following reasons:

1. Singapore has the highest foreign reserve per capita.
2. Temasek and GIC claim that they are generating double digit percentage return annually.
3. The government reports awesome budget surpluses year after year and even during the supposedly lean years.
4. Hundreds of millions in scholarships and other subsidies have been given freely to foreigners annually.
5. Singapore does not have any meaningful social welfare to begin with.
6. Singapore has the best paid ministers and elite civil servants in the world.

Surely, the government should have enough loose change and are expected to be ingenious enough to help the poor without having to resort to increasing the 'poor man's tax' by a whopping 40%. Many other countries are able to provide comprehensive welfare to their citizens without having to impose GST or by imposing only low GST. For example, Japan's GST is only 5% and social welfare is but excellent. If the government is sincere in helping the poor, it can do so by *lowering* or *exempting* GST on raw food, medicine and other essential items like what many other countries have done for a long time.

As such, we can only conclude that the proposed increase in GST is self-serving in nature or meant to make Singaporeans shoulder Temasek's and GIC's huge overseas invesment losses.

We refuse to accept any increase in the GST.

Sign the petition here