, is needed to support structural increases in healthcare spending, as well as other needs like pre-school education and security, Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat said in Parliament on Thursday .
Mr Heng outlined that the Health Ministry expects to spend S$6.1 billion in 2019 alone to subsidise patient bills through existing permanent schemes that all Singaporeans enjoy. “What does 6.5 percentage points of GDP mean? To put it in perspective, we expect to raise about 0.7 percentage points of GDP with the planned 2 percentage point GST increase,” he said.
He highlighted that the Government’s approach is to have a “flat GST rate, while providing structural offsets through the GST Voucher scheme”. “Indeed, a large portion of Singapore household wealth is held in the form of housing assets,” said Mr Heng.