Message of The Day

1st July had come and go. What did it mean for people living in the little red dot?

It's the day where new government policies come into effect. I'm really surprise as well. It didn't occur to me that there's so many new "rules and regulations" that's coming into effect yesterday until I read it from the newspapers. Here's a 'few' of them which I think affects the major population here.

1) The Goods and Services Tax goes up from 5 percent to 7 percent.

2) The 1 percent cess on hotel and restaurant bills will be scrapped.

3) People who signed up by June 25 for their GST credits and senior citizens bonuses' will get the money. The credits are meant to offset the GST increase.

4) The smoking ban - already in force at hawker centres and restaurants will extend to nightspots.

5) Employers will put in an extra 1.5 percentage points into workers' Central Provident Fund (CPF) accounts, bringing their contribution to 14.5 percent. This increase is only for employees who earn more than $1500 a month, or who are 53 years old or younger.

6) CPF members who turn 55 will need to set aside a minimum of $99,600 in their retirement account, up from the current $94,600.

7) Half a percentage point more of CPF contributions will go into Medisave. This ranges from 6.5 percent to 9 percent with older people paying more. There is a cap of $33,000 for Medisave. Any excess will be paid back into the Ordinary Account.

8) Legal aid will be accessible to more poor people as the Ministry of Law lowers the income threshold for people to get help. Also, the director of Legal Aid will have greater flexibility to give help to applicants, especially if there are exceptional circumstances.

9) Needy children helped by The Straits Times School Pocket Money Fund will get more each month. Primary school pupils will be given $35 a month instead of $30, while secondary school students will get $60 a month instead of $50. They will also be allowed to stay on the assistance scheme for up to two years, up from one year now.

10) Domestic postage rates will be increased by one cent to account for the GST increase. The domestic postage rate for standard mail (stamped and franked) up to 20g will be revised from 25 cents to 26 cents. For up to 40g, it will be revised from 31 cents to 32 cents.

11) NETS will be increasing it's administive fees from the current 0.3% - 0.55% to 1.5% - 1.9% This move have got the consumers worrying that they will have to fork out more for using NETS.

12) Allowance for our NSmen will be increase by $50. That means a recruit with a monthly allowance of $350 will be increase to $400. A Lieutenant with a monthly allowance if $1050 will be increase to $1100.

13) Starhub Cable TV is revising it's pay tv prices. I have to fork out $4 more for the basic group and extra $10 to watch my favourite team in action over at sports channel. With the GST increase, it sure hurts.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. There are still a few more which I didn't mention. With all the "adjustments" I think our little red dot will really "outshine" our neighbours.