Jack Welch wants to introduce means-testing for entitlement to welfare benefits. I do not like this approach. It is better to give the same entitle to everybody, based on age, and to tax those who are well off at a higher rate to pay for the benefits.
It is bureaucratic and costly to implement means-testing, and it can have unfair results. We only need to see how it is being implemented in Singapore. The means testing is based on many criteria, such as income, type of residence, etc. Some retirees - who are not well off - found that they are staying in a landed property bought many decades ago, but are excluded from some government subsidy.
It is bureaucratic and costly to implement means-testing, and it can have unfair results. We only need to see how it is being implemented in Singapore. The means testing is based on many criteria, such as income, type of residence, etc. Some retirees - who are not well off - found that they are staying in a landed property bought many decades ago, but are excluded from some government subsidy.
8 comments:
The govt could, by a stroke of the pen, tax those who are well off at a higher rate.
But why then didn't they do so?
Or is it they know something which "lesser mortals" don't?
And did any MPs raised this in Parliament so the govt has a chance to tell and explain?
Because govt normally don't respond to bloggers.
Although mean testing may not be perfect, it still has the advantage.
The case you mentioned of an old couple living in landed property with no income is not getting any assistance is acceptable because the old couple can sell away their landed property for, say $1.3 million, and buy a 3 room HDB flat for, say $300000. With $1 million going into their saving, the old couple has more than enough money to last them until the very last day of their life.
So Mean testing does not assist people living in private property is acceptable. Mean testing is to be used to assist needy people living in HDB flats.
Rather pay a higher income tax to receive more subsidies for medical care. Take for e.g. the little girl with a rare disease in KK Hospital. This Hospital instead of taking up the moral responsibility to treat her free of charge, now have the audacity to ask Singaporeans to contribute to a fund to keep the girl alive.
What a cold blooded and callous Govt we have in hand. The old, infirm, the disabled and the sick are useless digits to be ignored or discarded.
"The govt could, by a stroke of the pen, tax those who are well off at a higher rate."
- If I remember correctly, the PAP govt. by a stroke of a pen, has stopped all inheritance tax.
So I can now (sarcasm & irony intended) inherit $10 million dollars from my rich auntie and not have to pay tax on my inheritance.
- immediate membership to Singapore's elite by virtue of inheritance
- Singapore's meritocracy in its finest hour.
How many of us could have such a stroke of luck to inherit 10m from an aunt.
Market chatter from HDB folks, abolishing the inheritance tax is to facilitate the elderly but highly paid political elites to pass on their sudden wealth to their offsprings, without losing a cent to tax (sarcasm and irony intended).
Meritocracy in its finest hour is biased in Singapore, strictly applied to the ordinary citizens, but tweaked leniently in favour of Elites who do not measure up to their worth.
@ 12.55pm
If you ever had to be a care-giver to old folks, you will know just how difficult it is for old folks to change their habits, homes and way of doing things.
Jack Welch was the one who practised "hire and fire". He has taught so many executives to do that and now he wants to help the working class? Give me a break.
Jack Welch is Republican. So that explains his slant on economics.
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