GST increase was meant "to help the lower income group"..... says PM

[Force 136]

GST to be raised to 7%: PM Lee


By Farah Abdul Rahim, Channel NewsAsia Posted: 13 November 2006 1832 hrs

SINGAPORE: The Goods and Services Tax will be increased to 7 percent from 5 percent presently. This was announced by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in Parliament on Monday.

Speaking in Malay, Mandarin and English, Mr Lee explained that the hike was necessary to finance the enhanced social safety nets, needed to help the lower income group and he emphasised that the offset package would more than counter the rise in GST...........

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yes, enhanced social safety nets.......

Someone should do a study and see how much the lower income groups had been helped since GST increased to 7%..... how much Govt income increased since, and how much was spent on the poor.....

 

[Force 136]

So after the 2006 announcement, came news of this in 2008...

Singapore Could Purchase Joint Strike Fighter: Davis
Posted by Paul Fiddian on 08/07/2008 - 18:11:30

Singapore has expressed interest in potentially purchasing as many as 100 Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighters (JSFs), according to comments made by a US official on July 7th.
Independent to this, the eight nations involved in the JSF’s development seem, in the main, to be committed to the orders they previously placed for the aircraft, JSF Program Executive Officer, Air Force Major General Charles Davis, said yesterday.
"The Israelis have said they'd take up to 100 aircraft", he stated under interview conditions, adding: "The Singaporeans have said basically the same thing."

http://www.armedforces-int.com/news/singapore-could-purchase-joint-strike-fighter-davis.html

This is the USA's most expensive military programme....
http://www.cnbc.com/id/50014573/page/11

 

[Leongsam]

To see a comprehensive list of assistance schemes, go to http://app.msf.gov.sg/ComCare.aspx

 

[red amoeba]

I thought the increase in gst is to fund YOG ?

 

[kezgtree]

To sustain the high salary pay...NO!

 

[Force 136]

The F-35: Singapore’s next generation fighter?

BY
KELVIN WONG
-02 APRIL
Singapore is poised to make a decision on acquiring new fighter aircraft to replace an ageing segment of its fleet.

During last month’s Committee of Supply debate, Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen expressed Singapore’s desire to acquire new military platforms, particularly for the air force and navy. Noting that two of the Republic of Singapore Air Force’s (RSAF’s) main air combat platforms are either approaching mid-life or the end of their operational life cycles, Dr Ng revealed that his ministry was close to completing its evaluation of the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) as a potential replacement for its ageing fighters.

According to the International Institute for Strategic Studies’ Military Balance, the RSAF’s current air combat fleet comprises 24 Boeing F-15SGs, 20 Lockheed Martin F-16Cs and 40 F-16Ds, as well as 28 Northrop F-5S and nine F-5T Tiger IIs. While the F-15SGs were recently acquired in 2008 as a replacement for its retired A-4SU Super Skyhawk fleet, the F-16C/Ds entered service in the late 1990s while the F-5S/Ts have been operational since the late 1970s.

THE JSF PROGRAMME: A TROUBLED ENDEAVOUR

The JSF programme, now costing a record US$396 billion (S$492 billion), is an ambitious international combat aircraft development and acquisition project involving the United States and 10 foreign partners — Britain, Italy, Canada, Norway, Turkey, Denmark, the Netherlands, Australia, Japan and potentially South Korea.

Its key selling point is a relatively affordable, yet stealthy “fifth generation” (characterised by highly advanced avionics and radar-evading features) air combat platform, capable of replacing a variety of existing aircraft in air force inventories today.

In comparison, the F-22 Raptor, the only other fifth generation Western aircraft currently in existence, cost around US$74 billion to develop and build.

However, the programme is seven years behind schedule and continues to be beset by technical complications and significant cost overruns. While these issues are par for the course with any large-scale research and development programme, the latter issue has become the stuff of nightmares for partners........

read more at:
http://www.todayonline.com/commentary/f-35-singapores-next-generation-fighter

 

[johnny333]

Probably ALL of the above.

The PAP will keep on spending as long as there is no accountability.

 

[wMulew]

Dumbfuck opposition supporting retards don't know that government have already increase Healthcare and MCYS budget

 

[Force 136]

By how much?