Rob the poor to give to the rich

Folks,

Now that the US Elections is out of the way, let's turn our attention to something local. Singaporeans were met with a grim faced Lee the Son on the front page of the Straits Times announcing that the GST (if you're from the UK, India or some states in the US, it's the equivalent of VAT) has been upped from 5% to 7%. No big deal right? I mean sure it's more expensive and things like that but hardly worthy of a rant on the Evil Atheist's website right? Well, what makes it all the more hilarious is, the reason given, which is to 'fund services for the poor'.

So now, let me get this straight. You want to increase the tax on products, thus making them more expensive in order to fund programmes for the poor so they can buy your more expensive shit.

HAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA Oh my sides! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Look, I may be a sick, evil SOB (okay, I AM a sick evil SOB), but you gotta laugh at the irony. Really. It's funny.

Look, the GST is a poor man's tax. I am not saying it's wrong to impose a tax on products but essentially it's a poor man's tax. Every product that a person consumes he is paying tax for, regardless of it being a pencil or a Ferrari or a cup of coffee at a hawker centre. The poor are more affected by it because they have very little disposable income. Increasing the GST is virtually like taking a greater chunk out of the man's paycheck. The well-to-do have savings and shit, and they spend a smaller percentage of their income on products, so this tax increase does not affect them much, but for a man who lives from paycheck to paycheck, it is a kick in the face. What the government is essentially doing is taking away 7% of a person's salary and ostensibly giving some of it back as aid. That is like a goon robbing you in the street and then giving you some cash for the bus ride back home.

It gets better.

Further down in the paper, the government is mulling cutting of corporate tax from the current 20%. The reason cited was the same old 'blah make Singapore more competitive, globalization blah, more competition fucking blee'.Yes, remove all the trimmings from it and what do you get? Tax cuts for the wealthy. That is it in a nutshell. I don't get it. Who is advising the current crop of trained monkeys in Parliament? George Bush?! Where are these economists coming from? The Singapore zoo?

You know what is scarier? Both these news items were reported on the SAME MOTHERFUCKING PAGE and no one batted an eyelid!

It is creepy enough that they are pushing Reaganomics down our throats but the article actually reported that since there will be a rise in GST, there can now be a cut in corporate taxes. Yes, you heard it right Singaporeans. They are increasing your tax so the poor corporations who work so hard for their own billion dollar profits and multimillion dollar CEO's can have a break from paying so much for the right to fleece the country dry. Who says Singapore is not a Welfare State? Of course we take care of the underprivileged millionaire white men who out of all the kindness in their hearts invest in Singapore! We ensure that they are well taken care of even when the chips are down! As for the terminally insane, we take care of them too! We move them to Parliament!