Prof Lim: "Cut the BS. How many work permit holders pay income tax?"

[Confuseous]

From: Sng Hui Ying Research Assistant to Professor Lim Chong Yah


I refer to the Ministry of Finance's (MOF) letter "27% of foreigners pay income taxes" (June 22).

I was interested to find out the percentage of foreign workers here who pay income taxes.

As there was no readily available data, I derived the percentage from two sources.

The denominator, which is the size of the non-resident labour force, was obtained from published statistics from the Manpower Ministry.

Last year, the total labour force was 3,237,100 and the resident labour force, which refers to citizens and permanent residents, was 2,080,100. The difference, 1,157,000, was my derived size of the non-resident labour force.

The numerator was obtained from the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore's annual report. According to the table in Appendix 5, the number of non-resident taxpayers was 19,724.

I divided the numerator by the denominator and got 1.7 per cent.

I thank the MOF for pointing out that the "non-resident" numerator component is not the same as the "non-resident" denominator component.

I am glad it has brought out the difference in definition, and I have drawn Professor Lim Chong Yah's attention to the discrepancy.

We are, however, still curious to know what percentage of the estimated 900,000 work permit holders here, which account for 75 per cent of the non-resident labour force, pays income taxes. All of us, outside the MOF, can only hazard a guess.

- http://www.todayonline.com/Voices/EDC120625-0000026/How-many-work-permit-holders-pay-income-tax?

 

[ahkow]

From: Sng Hui Ying Research Assistant to Professor Lim Chong Yah


I refer to the Ministry of Finance's (MOF) letter "27% of foreigners pay income taxes" (June 22).

I was interested to find out the percentage of foreign workers here who pay income taxes.

As there was no readily available data, I derived the percentage from two sources.

The denominator, which is the size of the non-resident labour force, was obtained from published statistics from the Manpower Ministry.

Last year, the total labour force was 3,237,100 and the resident labour force, which refers to citizens and permanent residents, was 2,080,100. The difference, 1,157,000, was my derived size of the non-resident labour force.

The numerator was obtained from the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore's annual report. According to the table in Appendix 5, the number of non-resident taxpayers was 19,724.

I divided the numerator by the denominator and got 1.7 per cent.

I thank the MOF for pointing out that the "non-resident" numerator component is not the same as the "non-resident" denominator component.

I am glad it has brought out the difference in definition, and I have drawn Professor Lim Chong Yah's attention to the discrepancy.

We are, however, still curious to know what percentage of the estimated 900,000 work permit holders here, which account for 75 per cent of the non-resident labour force, pays income taxes. All of us, outside the MOF, can only hazard a guess.

- http://www.todayonline.com/Voices/EDC120625-0000026/How-many-work-permit-holders-pay-income-tax?

Published government statistics are designed to confuse. I would like the breakdown into population to be broken down into citizens, new citizens, PR, WP holders and others.

 

[aurvandil]

LCY is venturing into dangerous territory. He should not attempt to create derived variables using published statistics in this way. If he persists, they are going to make a fool of him.

 

[Bigfuck]

LCY is venturing into dangerous territory. He should not attempt to create derived variables using published statistics in this way. If he persists, they are going to make a fool of him.

Please do.　The　more　they　spin,　they　more　stupid　they　look　in　the　world.　Statistical　figures　are　supposed　to appear to be clear for analyze. If you do not know how to massage and it is clear that it is wrong, credibility hits the drain. It is a fact they have been spinning since the last honest chief statistician decided his conscience was worth more.