As a show of solidarity with Singaporeans coping with the Coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak, the Singapore President and all Cabinet Ministers will take a one-month pay cut.
Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat announced this in his roundup of the Budget Debate 2020 in Parliament on 28 February 2020.
Members of Parliament, on the other hand, will forgo one month of allowance, while some senior civil servants will be taking a half-month pay cut.
“We [the Government] do not hide bad news, we do not flinch from doing the right thing. We will go the extra mile to help every one of us come through this together. That is why people comply with stringent quarantine orders, people accept reassurances about masks, people feel safe and carry on with their lives. The fundamental basis of this is trust and solidarity between the Government and the people. The political leadership will do our part,” said Mr Heng.
Public officers at the frontline battling the Covid-19 outbreak will receive a special bonus of up to one month. The Government will also give a one-off Covid-19 grant to Public Health Preparedness Clinics to “support them in their active role caring for patients with respiratory illness”.
“Our frontline healthcare workers deserve our fullest support and encouragement. Indeed, our frontline workers, especially healthcare workers in the restructured hospitals, have shown outstanding courage and dedication. They are out there making daily sacrifices to fight this war against the unknown,” he said.
He added that Singapore must draw on its reserves of resilience, trust and solidarity in the weeks and months to come.
“This unity of purpose across our whole society is what will see us through these challenging times. And if we conduct ourselves well in this crisis, we will replenish those reserves, and strengthen our resilience and unity for another generation,” he said.
Mr Heng also said that the Government will take a tripartite approach with workers and enterprises to tackle structural changes in the economy and the labour market.
These will be done through initiatives such as the Adapt and Grow, SkillsFuture Credit for both workers and companies and the NTUC Job Security Council.
Some of these structural changes include a shrinking labour market, increased lifespan of the population, and rapid advances in technology and business models that will require workers to take on new skills.
“This three-pronged approach, building on our tripartite framework, is our structural response to the structural changes in the labour market. We can do this because we have been investing significantly in our education, upstream, to build a strong foundation to enable our people’s success,” said Mr Heng.
Mr Heng also reiterated the Government’s stand that “raising the GST remains the responsible way for all of us to meet our society’s future needs.”
“Nobody likes taxes, not even Ministers for Finance. As a Government, our approach is to tax lightly, so that people can keep most of what they earn, and so that they can decide how best to spend it for themselves and their families. But many critical, national needs are better met by Government provision, through taxes,” he said.
Some of these needs include healthcare, education, and defence, according to Mr Heng. He added that raising a broad-based tax like GST is a sustainable approach.
He also committed to helping Singaporeans manage when the GST is eventually raised.
“Through the Assurance Package, we will effectively delay the increase for almost all Singaporeans by at least five years and over and above the transitional support, the permanent GST Voucher will further help the lower- and middle-income,” explained Mr Heng.
As the GST is not the only way to meet Singapore’s revenue needs, the Government will also “continue to adjust our income and wealth taxes, to raise revenue progressively and fairly,” he added.
