- Joined
- Aug 8, 2008
- Messages
- 28,872
- Points
- 113
Look at them, so happy with the new budget, I wonder what they really got that made them so happy
By Melody Zaccheus & Janice Tai
Last week, The Straits Times asked various Singaporeans for their Singapore Budget 2013 wish list.
We return to them to ask: Did Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam grant your wish in his Singapore Budget 2013 speech?
YOUNG FAMILY
Mr Darren Wong, 38, a medical sales personnel, lives in a four-room flat in Balestier with his 35-year-old wife Hannah, a housewife, and their two young children. The family income is $4,000 to $5,000 a month. She had quit her administrator job to look after the family. He noted the pressure of striking a balance between nurturing a family and being the sole breadwinner.
What he had hoped from Budget 2013: He had hoped the Government would lighten the burden of families with single incomes beyond schemes like the Baby Bonus.
What young families got in Budget 2013: Low-income and middle-income families will get an additional Goods and Services Tax (GST) voucher in addition to the permanent GST voucher scheme introduced last year.
All Housing Board households will also get a reprieve on their service and conservancy charges. Households living in three- to four-room flats will get two months rebate.
From March 1, families with young children, elderly dependents and persons with disabilities will get a concession on foreign domestic worker levy. The levy will be cut from $170 to $120 a month, saving them $600 a year.
More than $3 billion will also be spent to improve the quality of the pre-school sector over the next five years. Money will go to increasing the number of pre-schools and improving the quality of pre-school education.
His reaction: The tweaks will help defray some of the expenses that weigh down a single-income household like mine. For instance, the reduction in maid levies may be of use should my wife decide to return to the workforce a few years down the road.
Other forms of assistance - for instance the GST vouchers, personal income tax rebates and Service and Conservancy Charges rebates - will go some way in defraying our expenses.
I am also looking forward to the improvement in standards of pre-school education. As a young parent, we want to know that we are placing our children in a system where they will benefit the most from. The changes give us the confidence that the Government is doing what it can for our little ones.
I am disappointed that no direct help was given to stay home mothers, but am grateful for the general financial assistance that will be disbursed over the course of the year.
By Melody Zaccheus & Janice Tai
Last week, The Straits Times asked various Singaporeans for their Singapore Budget 2013 wish list.
We return to them to ask: Did Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam grant your wish in his Singapore Budget 2013 speech?
YOUNG FAMILY
Mr Darren Wong, 38, a medical sales personnel, lives in a four-room flat in Balestier with his 35-year-old wife Hannah, a housewife, and their two young children. The family income is $4,000 to $5,000 a month. She had quit her administrator job to look after the family. He noted the pressure of striking a balance between nurturing a family and being the sole breadwinner.
What he had hoped from Budget 2013: He had hoped the Government would lighten the burden of families with single incomes beyond schemes like the Baby Bonus.
What young families got in Budget 2013: Low-income and middle-income families will get an additional Goods and Services Tax (GST) voucher in addition to the permanent GST voucher scheme introduced last year.
All Housing Board households will also get a reprieve on their service and conservancy charges. Households living in three- to four-room flats will get two months rebate.
From March 1, families with young children, elderly dependents and persons with disabilities will get a concession on foreign domestic worker levy. The levy will be cut from $170 to $120 a month, saving them $600 a year.
More than $3 billion will also be spent to improve the quality of the pre-school sector over the next five years. Money will go to increasing the number of pre-schools and improving the quality of pre-school education.
His reaction: The tweaks will help defray some of the expenses that weigh down a single-income household like mine. For instance, the reduction in maid levies may be of use should my wife decide to return to the workforce a few years down the road.
Other forms of assistance - for instance the GST vouchers, personal income tax rebates and Service and Conservancy Charges rebates - will go some way in defraying our expenses.
I am also looking forward to the improvement in standards of pre-school education. As a young parent, we want to know that we are placing our children in a system where they will benefit the most from. The changes give us the confidence that the Government is doing what it can for our little ones.
I am disappointed that no direct help was given to stay home mothers, but am grateful for the general financial assistance that will be disbursed over the course of the year.
