2 more insurers, India International Insurance (III) & Great Eastern (GE – formerly known as OAC) is giving 1 month notice to get out of the IDAC system.

Currently, I am not sure who else is/are still in the IDAC scheme. Oh well,NTUC Income will still be in. After all, they were the one who started out IDAC.

To be frank, though going to IDAC is kinda troublesome but it did prove its worth. At least, it did bring down the average repair cost to the minimal and also to "get rid" of those so-called "blacklisted" workshops. If you were to recall, there was a particular workshop boss who was convicted for "fraudulent" claims.

All thanks to Mr Tan Kin Lian.

*Salute*

But still, how long more can IDAC survive? I am not too sure either.

This is so damn cool!

I also want my wedding to be like this!

The Singapore government unveiled a Budget on Thursday that is set to grow its economy and provide long term help to its lower income workers.

Its Goods and Services Tax is going up to 7 percent from July this year.

But to balance this, the government is introducing a $4 billion offset package to be given out over five years.

To boost business, the corporate tax rate is also going to be cut from the current 20 percent to 18 percent.

A 3 percent Goods and Services Tax was first introduced in Singapore in 1994.

This went up to 5 percent in 2004 and will now go up to 7 percent from July this year.

The hike will eventually add $1.5 billion to the government's kitty each year.

To ease the pain of increased costs, cash offsets of up to $1000 will be given to all Singaporeans aged 21 and above over four years.

The amount will depend on two factors – the person's income and home type.

With an ageing population, its senior citizens aged 55 and above will also get an additional cash bonus – up to $1,000.

Meanwhile, to help the middle class, employers will have to contribute 1.5 percentage points more to the Central Provident Fund, a national savings scheme.

But this is only for those earning above $1,500.

While steering away from welfarism, this Budget is significant for introducing measures that will make help for lower income older workers, a more permanent feature.

They will receive monetary help as long as they remain employed.

The government is introducing a Workfare scheme for older low wage workers.

This group will also contribute less to the Central Provident Fund or CPF.

This means they will have more take-home pay and be more employable.

The shortfall in CPF will then be balanced off by higher Workfare income supplements, put in by the government.

Mr Tharman says: "Strengthening our social security system and providing for the needs of older Singaporeans will require the government to spend more in future. This means we will need additional revenues. We cannot raise direct taxes.

"Countries all over the world are reducing corporate and fiscal income taxes to continue to attract talent and investments and maintain strong incentives for the people to excel, we will in fact have to lower our direct taxes further over time. We will therefore raise additional revenues by extracting more income from our reserves and raising the GST."

For businesses, the corporate tax will be cut to 18 percent, from the current 20 percent, by Year of Assessment 2008.

This will bring it closer to Hong Kong's 17.5 percent rate

From 1 January next year, beer and stout with higher alcoholic content will cost more.

This is because the government is moving progressively towards taxing liquors based on alcoholic content rather than by volume.

Currently, some liquors are taxed on the basis of alcoholic content while others are taxed by volume.

Second Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam said the change was a rationalisation of duties and was not aimed at generating additional revenues.

He said this while presenting this year's Budget Statement on Thursday.

With the changes to the customs and excise duty rates for beer and stout next year, the duty for beer with alcoholic content of 5 per cent, for example, will drop from $3.50 to $3.20 per litre.

At the same time, the duty for the same volume of beer with alcoholic content of 8.8 per cent will go up from $3.50 to $5.60 a litre.

It was a Budget expected to address the middle-income squeeze for the first time, but little direct mention was made of the majority group in Second Minister for Finance Tharman Shanmugaratnam's speech.

Yet, there was relief aplenty for this diverse group to be found in different elements of the Government's Budget – ranging from a reduction in road tax and maid levy to rebates in property tax and utilities fees.

Central to this help for the middle class is the restoration of the employer's Central Provident Fund (CPF) contribution rate by 1.5 percentage points to 14.5 per cent from July – at the same time that the Goods and Services Tax (GST) goes up by 2 percentage points.

One percentage point will go into the Ordinary Account and will "help many of them pay for their mortgages", said Mr Shanmugaratnam. The remaining 0.5 percentage point will go into the Medisave Account.

In addition, nearly three-quarters of the Singaporean population – living in public housing and earning between $24,000 and $100,000 taxable income a year – will receive GST credits of $800, disbursed in annual cash handouts of $200 each.

Taking into account other components of the offset package – such as the Post Secondary Education Account (PSEA) top-ups, utilities rebates, service and conservancy charges (S&CC) rebates and property tax rebates – an average middle-class family living in a four-room flat will receive benefits worth seven times the extra GST they will have to pay.

Even those living in private houses and flats will receive an offset package worth two years' additional GST payable, or about $1,590.

However, sociologists Tan Ern Ser and Terence Chong expressed some disappointment that the CPF salary ceiling was not raised and that there was no reduction in personal income tax.

Prof Tan pointed out that with the current CPF salary ceiling of $4,500, the CPF restoration will mean an additional $67.50 a month of forced savings at the most.

"This Budget is more skewed towards the lower income; there will be those who fall through the cracks, such as the lower-middle income," said Prof Chong.

One such person is taxi driver Stephen Lim, 54, who earns $1,600 a month on average, so he does not qualify for the Workfare Income Supplement scheme.

Formerly a marketing manager drawing up to $4,000 a month, he lives in a five-room flat in Jurong West bought 14 years ago, with six years' mortgage left to service.

His wife, who earns $2,000 as a marketing manager, services the mortgage from her CPF account. They have an 18-year-old son studying at a polytechnic. According to Mr Lim's calculations, his GST offset package will comprise a $200 property tax rebate, $800 PSEA for his son, $1,600 GST tax credits and about $660 from his S&CC and Utilities-Save (U-Save) rebates – a total of $3,260.

"It's better than nothing, but I think more can be done to help taxi drivers. As self-employed people, I think more Medisave top-up would be good. I don't believe in handouts, but I don't see myself having much more cash in hand," he said.

His wish list? Make it easier to downgrade from his five-room flat with the removal of the resale levy. After a 20-per-cent resale levy on this $220,000 flat, he would hardly have enough to buy a four-room flat that would cost about $180,000.

Meanwhile, it will come as welcome news for the upper middle income – or the one in three households owning a car – that the road tax will be reduced by 8 per cent for cars and motorcycles.

This comes as part of a move to shift towards taxing for vehicle usage rather than ownership. For example, an owner of the popular 2.0-litre Toyota Camry will pay $124 less than the current road tax of $1,550.

One in six households will benefit from the reduction in the monthly Foreign Domestic Worker Levy by $30 from July 1.

One million property owners will also benefit from a one-off property tax rebate of up to $100 per year in 2008 and 2009. Three- and four-room HDB flat owners will end up paying little or no property tax during this period.

The U-Save and S&CC rebates will be extended to eligible HDB households for five years, from April 1, 2007, to March 31, 2012.

Middle-class Singaporeans currently living in HDB executive flats will also be eligible for these rebates for the first time, bringing the total beneficiaries to 800,000 HDB households and a total of $800 million over five years.

"This will help low- to middle-income households cope with increased household expenses due to the GST increase," said Mr Shanmugaratnam.

The Manpower Ministry (MOM) is working with insurers to provide an opt-in scheme that employers can subscribe to for hospitalisation coverage of their foreign workers.

Manpower Minister Ng Eng Hen said such a scheme may mitigate the insurance cost to employers through economies of scale.

Details will be announced after MOM has evaluated the insurers' proposals.

Dr Ng said this in his written response to a question from Nominated MP Cham Hui Fong in Parliament.

The plan to have employers purchase medical insurance for their foreign workers is linked to the Health Ministry's move to remove subsidies that employers currently enjoy when their foreign workers are hospitalised.

Last December, Dr Ng had said the government is thinking of making it compulsory for employers to buy such medical insurance.

There are now some 760,000 foreign workers in Singapore, with most of them in labour-intensive industries which locals find unattractive.

In the construction industry alone, there are about 145,000 work permit holders, and they make up about two-thirds of the workforce in that sector.

Dr Ng gave the latest foreign worker figures for December 2006 in response to questions brought up by MP for Bishan-Toa Payoh Josephine Teo.

YES! My 2nd year anniversary for obtaining my driving licence thou I have not been driving much in these two years. Duh…. Oh well, it does not really matter cos I am practising HARD recently, especially on my parking skills. It seriously SUCKS!

Hmmmm… Valentine's Day, what did I do?

*thinking hard*

Oh yes, DD's new car was "borned" on the Valentine's Day (Unfortunately, I had forgotten to take a pic of his new "wife"). Early in the morning, we went down to Ubi area to collect the car. After which, we proceeded to AMK to fix up his rims & finally to Yishun to get his spoiler spray paint. We then proceeded to move some stuffs to his house, picked up his mummy and sent her home.

Nothing fantastic right? Oh well, to me, Valentine's Day is just an ordinary day. No big deal!

We then proceeded to Newton Circus for dinner. FINALLY, I ate my sting ray. I had cravings for it since a month ago! YUM YUM! After dinner, we headed to Taka to pick up his Levi's jeans. I bought a book from Sophie Kinsella (at least there is something for me to do during the Chinese New Year).

Oh well, what is next? We went home, feeling freaking exhausted. After all, we had a long day.

*I bought him an Armani perfume as Valentine's Day gift. As for me, I do not want anything material in fact, so no gifts for me!*

Don’t you think the male singer looks like Monkey?