Budget 2013: Your Views

By Shabnam Muzammil and Nikki De Guzman: Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam's Budget 2013 statement promised to resolve Singapore's housing issues, with higher taxes to be introduced for high-end investment properties. Meanwhile, PropertyGuru spoke to the public to get their reactions to the budget speech and got mixed views: "The budget has made me very happy! In addition to more attention being paid to education, I understand that there will be a new property tax whereby for more expensive houses, higher taxes will need to be paid. That is practical and does not really affect the majority of Singaporeans."

Sharan, 42, IT Manager "If the government is doing its best to help the people, then I'm happy. Poor people like me wait every year to listen to the budget to see if it offers anything for us. The rich keep getting richer and the poor keep getting poorer."

Chang, 60s, Tissue Seller "The tax increase does not really affect me but the rest of my family is not too happy about it. Prices are increasing which takes a lot away from what little we earn." Business Executive, 30s"With the increase in property tax, it makes me reconsider buying property because prices are already so high and with this budget statement, it could make private residential units more expensive.

Belinda Ngim, 32, Accounts Executive "It's about time they introduce measures like increasing taxes for property. I watched the news last night and it may look bad now but I think it's helpful in the long run. I wouldn't mind paying more to ensure better living standards for my children."

Ivy Van Huizen, 58, Fitness Centre Manager "I am not really in favour of it – so many taxes. We already pay enough taxes, why tax us some more? But at least there was nothing to penalise PRs (permanent residents) like what happened in the recent property cooling measures. I was worried wondering if they would say something that would make it extremely difficult for me to live here, but they didn't so I'm thankful for that."

Fazniya Ali, 36, Homemaker Shabnam Muzammil, Senior Journalist at PropertyGuru, and Nikki De Guzman, Junior Reporter at PropertyGuru, wrote this story. To contact them about this or other stories email shabnam@allproperty.com.sg and nikki@allproperty.com.sg Related Stories: Budget 2013: Property Implications

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