Here’re the important Singapore Budget 2015 initiatives that will affect us directly

The budget speech is three hours, and in this Internet era whereby information sent to us are fast, concise and relevant, we know how difficult it is to stay in front of the TV (sorry, what is a TV?) and try to find something that affects us during the budget speech. So, we’ve done the twork of helping you filter the points that might affect you, depending on who you are.

For students

More Edusave, yah!
There will be a $150 top-up of Edusave for Singaporeans seven to sixteen. Now, more reasons to sign up for that excursions!

Exam fees for MOE schools (e.g. primary to JC) to be free now
You might not know this, but examinations do cost money. Your parents are the one who pay so you thought you can fail O-level as many times as you want.
Now, it’s free. But you should not use that as an excuse to fail many times.

For working adults

CPF Salary ceiling increased from $5,000 to $6,000
Currently, if you earn more than $5,000, the CPF contribution is capped at $5,000. Now, it is $6,000, so you’ll have more CPF when you retire.

Free courses for Singaporeans aged 25 and above
It’s like the money that SAF gives to NSF for them to upgrade their skills. It’s called “SkillsFuture Credit”, and if you’re a lifetime learner like us, this will interest you. Free courses leh!

For everyone

Tax rebate for road tax but increase in petrol duty rates
Each vehicle has to renew its road tax annually, and this amount will be decreased by 20% for cars, 60% for bikes and 100% for commercial vehicles using petrol…for one year.
But petrol duty rates will be increased. Forever.

Healthcare and public transport spending to be increased
It’s billions of dollars, so what you need to know is that there’ll be better healthcare and public transport in the next few years.
Also, there’ll be one more terminal in Changi Airport (though we admit we don’t really care much).

Income tax of top 5% of earners to be raised
Unless you’re very, very rich, it doesn’t affect you too much. You should rejoice at the next point…

Income tax of the rest of us will have a 50% rebate (up to $1,000)
… it’s just for income in 2014, so this year, you still have to pay 100%. But next year, 50% off leh! Wah, steady lah! Over 1.5 million Singaporeans will benefit from this, and in total it’s about $717 million dollars that Singapore will “lose”.

Increase in GST Vouchers
Every year, some Singaporeans get some cash or vouchers as part of the GST Vouchers. Now, this amount will be increased by $50 for about 1.4 million Singaporeans. Not a lot, but still it affects us. $50 can buy many plates of chicken rice leh.

For business

No more PIC next year
We know no one cares much about this, but anyone who is in business will know we talk about this every year. Now, no more PIC next year. We can almost hear the sighs of businesses all over Singapore. Thank God we sell books instead of printers.