A 4G ‘leadership’ completely void of compassion and common sense?
I refer to the article ‘Singapore will not cut fuel duties or provide road tax rebates: Lawrence Wong’ (CNA, 4 Apr).
The Finance Minister Lawrence Wong was quoted as saying: “Fewer than four in 10 households in Singapore own cars, and amongst the lowest quintile, only about one in 10 do… Such subsidies on private transport would therefore benefit a relatively small but generally better-off group.”
Comment:
Don’t you find this comment rather lacking in common sense as it is not just the well-to-do who consume petrol? On the contrary, those who are the most impacted by an increase in petrol prices are the working class people such as PHV and delivery drivers!
In this connection, the mainstream media published an article just 3 weeks ago ‘Rising petrol prices batter earnings of private-hire car and taxi drivers, as some consider quitting’ (TODAY, 11 Mar) whereby one driver was quoted as saying that his take-home pay has dropped from $50 to $30 after petrol prices have risen!
As it currently stands, Singapore is already one of the most expensive places in the world to own private transportation with COE for motorcycles hitting an all-time high and the govt is already raking in enough revenue with the land rent from such petrol stations going for as high as $4 million a year!
By contrast, New Zealand has offered a temporary cut in petrol duties as a result of the recent spike brought about by the Ukrainian invasion even though they have taken a bigger 2021 budget deficit ($15.1 billion) than Singapore ($4.95 billion) did!
Is our govt, arguably, downright heartless and void of compassion to leave the middle and working-class suffering economically when most of these people are just trying to make an honest living? https://www.facebook.com/laoliang/posts/7483538894997290