This article was originally published on Vulcan Post.
With Budget Day yesterday, Singaporeans are split between feeling redeemed, angered, or just plain confused. Much like any other Singaporean announcement, it takes a lot of wading through acronyms and schemes to get to the meat of the matter.
With the Jubilee Budget, however, there were definitely high hopes. We’ve broken it part of the Budget so that you can understand how it affects you and your family members.
Children (6 and below)
More affordable pre-primary school education:
- Children aged 6 and below in 2015 will get Child Development Account (CDA) top-ups of up to S$600
- Partner Operator Scheme to complement the Anchor Operator Scheme for child-care centres.
Students (Primary and Secondary)
More guided career advice
- Introduction of the Individual Learning Portfolio, a one-stop education, training, and career guidance resource that will encourage life lifelong learning, a mastery of skills and even second-skilling later in life
More affordable school fees, especially for needy students
- Waive exam fees
- $150 top-up to the Edusave Accounts of Singaporean students aged 7 to 16 (or secondary school students above 16)
- Needy students will get transport subsidy that will cover at least half of students’ transport costs.
Students (Tertiary)
More opportunities and guided career advice
- Improve internships in Institutes of Higher Learning- make them more structured and meaningful. We will also help more of our students get international exposure.
- Career Counselling – develop a professional core of Education and Career Counsellors, for our schools and Institutes of Higher Learning
More post-secondary education support
- We will provide a top-up to the Post-Secondary Education Account (PSEA) of Singaporeans aged 17 to 20 to assist households in saving for tertiary education. The majority will receive $500.
- Waive Exam fees
- Needy students will get transport subsidy that will cover at least half of students’ transport costs.
Students (Poly and ITE)
More support in mentorship and career guidance
- SkillsFuture Earn and Learn Programme: The graduates will be matched with suitable employers structured on-the-job training and mentorship with monetary support from govt
More post-secondary education support
- Waive Exam fees
- Needy students will get transport subsidy that will cover at least half of students’ transport costs.
Working professionals above 25
More support for working professionals looking to expand their skillset to stay relevant
- A personal SkillsFuture account will be set up, with $500 to be topped up to go for courses to help them be future ready even as Singapore undergoes economic restructuring and transformation.
Working professionals above 40
More support for working professionals looking to expand their skillset to stay relevant
- A personal SkillsFuture account will be set up, with $500 to be topped up to go for courses to help them be future ready even as Singapore undergoes economic restructuring and transformation.
- Education and training subsidies for all Singaporeans aged 40 and above will be enhanced to a minimum of 90% of training costs for courses funded by MOE and WDA.
Above 50
More support for working adults at the retirement age
- Increased CPF contribution
| From Employers | From Employees | Total | |
| 50-55 | Up 1% point | Up 1% point | Up 2% point |
| 55-60 | Up 1% point | – | Up 1% point |
| 60-65 | Up 0.5% | – | Up 0.5% point |
| Account | Special | Ordinary |
- Increase CPF interest – the government will be paying an additional 1% Extra Interest on the first $30,000 of CPF balances from the age of 55
Middle-income families
More financial support
- Increase the CPF salary ceiling from $5,000 to $6,000.
- 50% personal income tax rebate for 1.5 million Singaporeans
Families living with elderly or children
More help for families needing domestic support
- Lower monthly concessionary Foreign Domestic Worker Levy of $120 (instead of $265) if they are eligible to $60 per month.
- Extend the concessionary levy to households with children aged below 16, up from below 12 today.
Car Owners
Owning a carbon-emitting car will be more expensive
- Low-carbon vehicle rebates to be increased.
- Petrol duty rates will be increased by $0.20 per litre, and intermediate grade petrol by $0.15 per litre.
But they won’t be left in the lurch
- One-year road tax rebate of 20% for cars, 60% for motorcycles, and 100% for the small number of commercial vehicles using petrol.
Rich people
Increase taxes
- Personal marginal tax rate for top 5% of income earners (at least $160,000 a year) to increase from 20% to 22% by 2017.
Verdict
It definitely seems like the push for more middle-income and elderly support has been heard, with the changes to CPF contribution, GST vouchers, and tax rebates for the middle class being the most popular changes.
The emphasis on SkillsFuture and also the introduction of SkillsFuture Credits is a much welcomed one, especially given the long-standing focus of the Labour Movement in continuous education and training for workers.
Several people, including Labour MP Patrick Tay, has also taken to social media to express how happy he is that the initiatives that NTUC has been lobbying for, especially the SkillsFuture initiatives and SkillsFuture Credits, have been adopted.
These will promote lifelong learning, encourage continuous education and training (CET), support second-skilling and raise productivity. This may see a change of culture around learning, where grades-based achievements become less important, and life-long learning take centrestage.