The Singapore government announced it’s annual budget last Friday and there has been lots of media coverage over the weekend. It always seems to be a timely resource as I begin to teach demand and supply side policies and the intricacies of fiscal policy at this time of the year.
The Singapore Budget seems to float between fiscal stimulus during the recession to supply side initiatives during the boom to this years surprise bonanza. Last year Singapore’s economy grew by 14.8% which lead to larger than expected rises in tax revenue from both company profits and revenues. Much of this surplus was distributed back to tax payers in different ways.
Here are some brief interesting statistics from the budget
- The government gave each citizen a 20% tax rebate on last years taxes.
- Each citizen above 16, will also receive a one off growth dividend from the government of between $100 to $800
- The marginal tax rates have been adjusted downwards for middle and low income earners for the next financial year.
- There is increased help available for students and elderly citizens, although the assistance is meager by western standards of social security.
Below is a worksheet that I have made for my students and several other articles from the weekends paper. They may be a good case study resource if you are studying demand and supply side policies.
- Singapore Budget 2011 – worksheet
- Budget 2011 – Overview of Tax Changes
- Budget 2011 – Supply Side Policies
- Budget 2011 – Composition of Spending and Revenue
For a comparison to the recession budget of 2009 see 3.4 – ST article – financial crisis budget, or for an overview of last years budget see a post here about Helping Singapore Become an Advanced Economy
Digging a Little Deeper 