A nominated member of parliament suggested a very interesting and implementable model to address the current economic crisis faced by Singapore due to the coronavirus outbreak.
The suggestion – provide a universal basic income of $110/week to all Singaporeans for the entire month of the “lock down”. This will cost about $4.6B but will not be financed by the national reserve. Instead, we pay it forward by increasing income tax by about 4.5% temporarily when times are better. The 4.5% income tax increase will hit the well-off more since Singapore has a progressive tax system.
I think this is a wonderful idea. It is different from the current measures in place, which all utilise the national reserves. We need more of such constructive ideas and suggestions in parliament instead of raising “questions for the sake of asking questions”. Check out this article for the details.
