Budget 2025

The PM and Minister for Finance Lawrence Wong read out the budget on 18 February.

I had to give via WhatsApp and email my comments and views on the budget.

I also sent an email to the PM re the budget and this afternoon he replied to me.

It’s a budget that provides lots of handouts to citizens. The giving of handouts started sometime ago but this being an election year, the handouts appeared more generous.

Sometimes I wonder where this will end. Once you start giving, there is an expectation on the part of the recipients that there will be handouts every year and each year would be more than the last year. If that is no longer possible, I wonder what the consequences will be.

Already some people are commenting that the handouts were not generous enough and they expected more.

It is indeed sad that hard earned tax revenue is given out this way by way of rebates and vouchers. Do these cash vouchers across the board to everyone really help anyone? Are we helping the needy in a meaningful manner by giving out cash? Do payments across the board to everyone achieve any fiscal objectives? Are we becoming a socialist state? In any case, would giving out money to all indiscriminately constitute a socialist state?

I also think our people are starting to become entitled. In the past, such cash handouts were never given. Somehow I wonder if we have started to pander to our people too much. Once pandering starts, it will never end and woe betide the government if the people think they didn’t get enough.

Unfortunately I feel MPs started to pander to their residents some 15 years back. House visits, meet the people sessions and bending over backwards to cater to each and every need. Now the way they treat MPs is transactional. They view MPs as being there to do things for them and if they do not get what they want, they get upset.

I am not at all sure this is a healthy state of affairs for the long term especially with the myriad of long term issues facing the country. The list I sent to the PM included the high cost of living here, high public property prices (private property prices are out of reach for most of our people now and landed property prices are completely out of hand), ensuring good employment prospects for our young people, ensuring social mobility for our people, ensuring constant upgrading of skills of our people to keep up with the latest technology changes, healthcare costs and its implications for an ageing society and in what areas will Singapore excel long term and what our position will be in this new world.