Comments on: More Tax Residents In Higher Income Brackets (see graph)

By: Icon Resident

Icon Resident — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 13:24:36 +0000

Is there a part of the data that is planned to be misleading? No distinction between foreigners and locals, surely with more than double the increase in foreigners, the general outlook would be upward increase in weath.

Why is the population in Singpaore keeps on falling despite all these measures by the government, had it not been the influx of immigrants?

Why do the Government offer scholarships to young ones only to BOND THEM for 6 years (marriage years) in Singapore?

Compare these policy and facts to so called “Rival” – Hong Kong

The Smarter One will know why

By: An FT

An FT — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 05:52:20 +0000

I’m another foreigner here.

I’d like to say that the majority of Singaporeans are accommodating and law abiding and it must certainly have contributed to the growth of Singapore to where it is today.

I’m not a tax or policy expert. I sincerely hope there will be more jobs to go around matching the skill sets that are present in Singapore.

Best wishes for all

By: Forigner input

Forigner input — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 10:13:00 +0000

Thanks for the invite, Local. Must say the offer is quite tempting!!
But unfortunately, if the right people were doing the right jobs then the world would have been a better place already. Truly yours.

By: middleclass

middleclass — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 06:48:35 +0000

Foreigner: I’m glad you do see that having a healthy system is beneficial to both you and me.
Unfortunately I do not even pretend to know the answers to our problems.
My humble opinion is that as with anything else moderation and control must be in place to keep a balance.
We have many believers in ruthless drive for efficiencies and unfettered greed of capitalism almost to the point of being their religion.
I don’t believe that the end justify the means especially when we are talking about human beings here.
We must strive for a system that’s good for the society and not just good for the privileged few.
My apologies for going off tangent on a rant.
I do find your suggestions very meaningful.
I would be interested to hear what other wiser people have to say about our solution for Singapore.
It is always a pleasure for me to come to the internet and learn something new.

By: local

local — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 05:52:54 +0000

excellent suggestions! if it’s even possible, i would like to invite you to run our manpower ministry. the pay is about $2 million a year. and i’m sure you would do a much better job than our overpaid and underperforming ministers.

By: Forigner input

Forigner input — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 04:52:09 +0000

Hi middleclass, I truly second what you had said. LOCAL, the Singaporeans are definitely not to be blamed for this situation.

Please let me know that why has it not been possible for Singapore to have a point based immigration system, just like most of the developed nations have it? The government has all the list of jobs that are not being filled up with the local population. Keep a quota on the number of people who can be brought in to contribute to the contry’s growth. England has faced a similar problem because of opening upto the EU, where it was flooded by east europeans who were willing to work for a pittance in its service industry. But they have taken note of it and are working towards fixing a quota system.

Secondly, does Singapore have a minimum wage program in force? If the worker is willing is to work at a salary lower than what is stipulated by the government, he shud be taken to task along with the employer. But then, I think most of the businesses here are looking to increase their operating margins at the cost of not employing their own countrymen. Are big business houses also doing that?

Last but not the least, in this global scenario- the individual has to constantly upgrade his skills to keep up with the job market. Gone are those days when one could keep doing the same quality of job for a long time.

By: local

local — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 08:25:16 +0000

>We can’t blame Singaporeans for this big mess up, can we?

well, our elected politicians have been blaming us and calling us “lesser mortals”, “culprits”, “sheep” and most recently labelling us “daft”.

we will show them how daft we are at the ballot box.

By: middleclass

middleclass — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 08:17:28 +0000

Kevin: and I would agree with you that big corporations call the shots. As I also said before we need and always welcome foreign talents that adds competitive edge and knowledge workforce.
But we don’t need my waitresses and cashiers working below Singaporean living wages because living costs are driven up by the same people coming in to replace Singaporean.
Just as we don’t need importing foreign workers competing for jobs that our capable and young workforce are able to do.
Just because we need to control the floodgate doesn’t mean that we will not have enough labour to support business.
Singapore has other factors to attract businesses besides dirt cheap wages.
Otherwise everyone will be moving to Indonesia or Africa to do business.
Lastly let’s examine the problem that Singaporeans are expensive.
We can’t blame Singaporeans for this big mess up, can we?

By: Kevin

Kevin — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 07:58:54 +0000

We sell Singapore as a business hub, to be able to attract talent from all over and to be able to let go of them in bad times. This is Singapore’s unfortunate Wall-street reality.

Say we tighten immigration policy, there will not be enough labour to support business operations and given that we are so dependent on foreign investment, foreign investment will move out of Singapore to another country, which in turn reduces demand for labour.

Nothing wrong to ask for better differentiation, except that we need to be careful what we ask for and be prepared for possible consequences of eventual job losses when the economy shrinks.

By: local

local — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 06:10:00 +0000

and what’s wrong with locals asking for better differentiation?

the problem is that our government makes it too attractive for foreigners – dishing out PR and work permits – to the point that some are laughing at us and some even have the cheek to chastise us in public media.

other great economies without big populations and natural resources such as denmark and switzerland manage to do much better than to blindly import foreign workers.

being the highest paid in the universe, our ministers themselves should be cheaper, better and faster in tackling issues. you said what’s wrong with business depressing wages, i say what’s wrong with the electorate demanding our ministers to perform better for their worldly salaries.