Tharman: Government to ensure ‘Singapore society remains fair’

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An honorable member of the Coffee Shop Has Just Posted the Following:

The Republic’s tax system is “more progressive than meets the eye”. Income taxes for the top income bracket is 20 per cent, but with the Government’s Workfare programme supplementing 20 to 30 per cent of the income of older, lower-earning workers, “our income tax schedule is actually 50 percentage points wide”, he said.

The system is even more progressive when housing grants and other subsidies are factored in. Taking Workfare together with housing grants, low-income couples at the 10th percentile of the income ladder are provided with benefits equal to about 30 per cent of their lifetime incomes — a conservative estimate, according to Mr Tharman.

And government spending and subsidies should be designed to reinforce individual effort and responsibility, as these are values that keep society strong, said Mr Tharman.

“This is not about leaving things to self-reliance, or about leaving families to face uncertainties on their own,” he said. “It may be a paradox, but this paradox of active government support for self-reliance has to run through all our social policies. It is how we help people to stand with pride and contribute to society.”

- http://www.todayonline.com/singapore...y-remains-fair


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