SINGAPORE: Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam on Thursday wrapped up his speech on the Budget debate, focusing on how the government tackles the challenges of income inequality. He also reassured Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) that the government will help them transform over the next decade to raise productivity, income and living standards for all Singaporeans. Replying to more than 60 MPs who had taken part in the three-day Budget debate, Mr Tharman also explained the $1.1 billion the government is spending on expanding bus capacity. Singapore's economic and social strategies are closely bound, says Mr Tharman. Hence, the budget is core to the strategy to tackle income inequality. He said, first, the strategy must be to grow the incomes of all Singaporeans. Second, to tackle income inequality, by redistributing to provide significant benefits for the lower-income, yet without placing excessive taxes on the middle-income. Mr Tharma! n said: "As much as we can, let's keep the tax burden low for the middle-income group. This is a very important feature of our tax system which is not widely recognised that our taxes for the middle-income group are much lower than other countries. "If you don't own a car, even as a middle-income Singaporean, you get back $1.50 for every dollar tax you pay over your lifetime. For those who want to have a car for the convenience because they have a large family and have elderly people to ferry around ...
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