MPs recognise initiatives in Budget to help companies

SINGAPORE: While recognising the Pioneer Generation Package as the centrepiece of this year’s budget, Members of Parliament (MPs) who debated the Budget on Monday also raised other issues, such as the various initiatives to help Singapore companies.

In particular, some MPs joined in the call for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to accelerate productivity, through the employment of technology.

“The introduction of the PIC+ scheme for the SME is a big tax change in the Budget and sends a signal that the government will support SMEs who want and can make sustainable investments to restructure their businesses,” said East Coast GRC MP Jessica Tan.

One MP also pointed out that expectations from Singaporeans of government agencies will continue to rise, especially with growing affluence, and that a little bit more could be done to meet these expectations.

MP for Holland-Bukit Timah GRC Liang Eng Hwa said: “While by and large, Singaporeans are satisfied with the service delivery by the government agencies, it is often the last five per cent of the delivery that are left to be desired.

“Take for example, the recently opened MCE. A wonderful expressway; we spent a few billion dollars on it but when it comes to the opening we could have done better in terms of communicating, so that’s the five per cent I’m talking about.”

Another issue that received attention during the debate was managing high costs for Singaporeans.

Nominated MP Laurence Lien said lower costs would go towards providing minimally acceptable conditions for the lower-income to get by.

He therefore urged the government to consider free basic education for all children between three and 18 years of age.

“For pre-school, a universal voucher can be provided to all children, set at the median fees charged by all operators,” said Mr Lien.

“Tertiary education fees can be chargeable in the form of a loan whose repayment is a proportion of what the graduate actually earns in the workforce. Those going into lower paid professions, like in the non-profit sector, can receive loan forgiveness if they are unable to make full payment at the end of their loan tenure.”

This drew a response from MP for Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC Dr Janil Puthucheary. He said that free education, while “free” for the individual, would be expensive for society as a whole.

He countered that other countries which provided free education would also have a higher taxation burden and asked if this would necessarily lead to equality of opportunity.

“The outcome we need is equality of opportunity for all, and free education. Will it improve the equality of opportunity by giving similar access to everybody? I am doubtful of that,” he said. 

MPs recognise initiatives in Budget to help companies