Saturday, January 30, 2016

Long working hours in Singapore

Hello Mr Tan,

While surfing the internet on working hours in Singapore, i chanced upon an old article of yours:
http://tankinlian.blogspot.sg/2010/02/long-working-hours-in-singapore.html?m=1

6 years later, it seems that things haven't changed and people here are still putting in insanely long hours at work.

http://statestimesreview.com/2015/06/16/singapore-maintains-its-no-1-ranking-in-longest-working-hours-in-the-world/

Regards,
A Concerned Citizen

REPLY BY TAN KIN LIAN
Things will not change, if the government does not recognize this problem and take the lead to deal with it.


Sunday, January 24, 2016

Bernie Sander's tax

This article explains how the tax code will look like, if Bernie Sander gets elected as President and his proposals get passed by Congress (which will not be easy).

Looking at the charts, the tax rate will increase by 9% for income up to $250,000 a year, and by a higher percentage for income over this threshold. For a person earning $10 million or more, the income tax will increase by 34% to hit a top rate of 77%.

http://www.vox.com/2016/1/22/10814798/bernie-sanders-tax-rates

Wait a minute. This chart is not telling the correct picture.

America now spends 17% of GDP on health care. A large part of this expenditure comes from insurance premiums paid by individuals or their employers. Under Bernie Sander's health plan, a large part of the expenses will be paid by the Government. This point seemed to be overlooked.

If the saving is 17% of income, Bernie Sander's tax plan means that there will be a net saving of 8% for working families earning up to $250,000 a year. They will have a bigger disposable income.

Even if the saving is lower, there will still be a net savings, which may be lower than 8%.


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