Originally posted by oxford mushroom:

When 60% of the population does not pay income tax, raising the tax on those who do will only serve to drive away those who contribute most to the nation. High corporate taxes will only drive companies away to our competitors. One must not forget that our taxes are already higher than those in Hong Kong.

Increase the pool of tax payers by GST and lower the threshold for income tax. Cut government expenses by reducing the MINDEF budget.

agree on this. he years of reservist can be cut down or scrapped. It will save lots of money for them

to TS , there is an alternative route for you. I am not sure of yr qualifications but if u take the diploma route in AUs, u will be paying much cheaper. Adv Dip takes 1. 5 years in Aus and choose a Tafe institution which gives a pathway to whichever Uni u want to go for eg. Holmesglen Institute of Tafe has an alliance with Deakin for some of their curses and a guranteed entry to Deakin Uni, with advanced standing of 1 to 1 1/2 yrs.

Originally posted by O o O o:

 

I believe the debt to income ratio and interest rate is a more important factors to look at instead of the absolute property value when we want to assess the impact of mortgage crisis on home owners.

Relative to Australia, Singapore property price might look more expensive, however when you factor in other housing related cost like mortgage interest and cost of maintaince, the overall picture might look very different.

E.g. Assuming John Mosley bought a property in Australia for AUD300,000 and took up a 250,000 loan @ 9% over 30 years. By the end of 30 years, he would have already paid AUD474,000 of interest or AUD774,000 for his property.

Over in Singapore KK Wong bought a property in Singapore for S$500,000 and took up a S$450,000 loan @ 3% over 30 years. By the end of 30 years, he would have paid S$233,000 of interest or S$733,000 for his property.

From the few charts which I have posted, it should be quite accurate to say that the younger generation home owners in Australia are spreading themselves too thin and heavily in debt as compared to previous generation or even Singaporeans due to our CPF system. Hence in time of mortgage crisis, slowing economy and high interest rate, I think it shouldnt be wrong to say that most Australia home owners are in worst position to handle this crisis as compare to Singapore home owners.

As far as wages goes, when you consider their after taxed salary, there is really not much to shout about. Some might argue that tax will provide free health care etc. but it is a known fact that most working class are buying the own health insurance and seek medical treatment from private hospital.

again , short sighted people like u irritate me...that home in Aus belongs to u forever and after u it goes to your children who may be still paying for it...Besides when u are too old to pay, u get old age pension to pay for that too....

Originally posted by fishbuff1:

dun, there is no ministers here that will say;

-gst to help the poor.

- raise wage is to increate inflation.

well,. u know the rest. so what if the cost here is higher than sg? cambodia is cheaper but do we see people flocking there?

yea, most of us singaporeans always tend to be short sighted and shallow valued, only see everything as if money is the blood of their life. i too fall into such trap, need some time to get over it..

if money is important to you, then move to malaysia, thailand or indonesia.

there are hundreds of thousands singaporeans here in oz and they are living fine here. even the ministers have much vested interests here in oz too.

let me tell u why they are fine, they dontmind paying the higher housing prices because when they are old, they are taken care of and 2ndly the homes which they buy belongs to them forever, which they can pass on to their children

Unlike the guy who wrote this thread, they have seen the bigger picture

Originally posted by caleb_chiang:

Why would someone migrates without doing research and preparations?

There is no such thing as research and preparation. No researh and preparation is going to prepare u till u have really lived there. The best is when one has stayed in a new country for at least 6 months to a year at the same time keeping his eyes and ears open to the environment to arrive at a conclusion.

Originally posted by redDUST:

this place is too far from the city center...

yes Narre Warren is a bit far , but those places closer to the city centre are going to cost u significantly higher..Besides, most people drive from their home to the railway station and take public transport anyway. Its much easier as it leads to the city centre directly.

Originally posted by maurizio13:

 

In terms of transport by trains, they have monthly fare card which is significantly lower than daily fare charges.

SMRT wants to fleece more from the commuters, that's why they don't implement cost saving measures to help commuters.

 

The monthly fare for non citizens and PR for zone 2  ( is $70 and that relates to $2.25 per day, which u can use to take train and bus and trams - to and fro . Think about it a bus ride and swtich to a train - one in th emorning and return home in the evening costing just $2.25..Its not bad at all..and if u are a citizen or PR, its only around $40, i think

but for zone 1 is significantly higher. Besides most people have cars and they somehow will only buy tickets for only one zone.

Originally posted by newcomer:

i think the key is try not to make it obvious? u see girls tend to have a super imaginative mind. if u do things in subtlety, leave her in suspension and they'll be all over u fishing for hints.

sorry me not an expert...

this is a proven tactic, i used it before, and somehow it comes to me naturally..

this look really serious...in the first place, why were u invloved in all these?

As someone said before U dance with the devil, the devil dont change, it changes u.

May god be with you.

Maybe u are suspected of Industrial espionage.

But i dont really get this story. Did someone sabotage u?

i know of two persons in this situation. The woman likes him, but he has no idea of it yet. They both work in the same office. But i happen to know her since she was my school mate and she told me. But for some reason she thinks it is not happening because she is a divorcee and he is an unmarried single man who has better choices out there. She is feeling depressed. Yr views?

http://se.mercer.com/costoflivingpr

According to the list above  - Singapore is more expensive than Sydney. This guy who wrote this article is just plain ignorant.

why do u have to go AUs to study in the first place.. I thought this was in the 80s and 90s.

U can do much courses now compared to last time in singapore itself... explore yr options...

more and more problems in singapore,

deleted -

sarving in East timor?. singaporeans have no time for this.

Anyone can give me a meltdown in prices of new or resale flats in this areas.?

if u re interested, there is a home in Narre Warren , Melbourne going to 290 K ..with a glass house feel..

wait for the bubble to burst. ot stay onrental in aus , buy a home in singapore ...

If all these trends worry u , then do the above.. there will always be trends ..5 years ago, someone predicted a trend housing price will rise, and so it did... 5 years from now that will repeat itself... 

there is a shortage of labour here in AUS. But somehow the new PR rules were aimed at those who are studying and have a high level of English language who will benefit the most.

he is both, a lethal combination

shielding them is not a bad thing, we can offer them likeother incentives like if they were to invest in something they get some profits but paying us back some as well form time time through things like corporate tax

Originally posted by sbst275:

think of it another way, w/o e 2 yrs of NS which partly gave a peaceful and stable Singapore would all these foreigners come?

as for uni admission, I dare say there are locals who did not make e cut to go to JC aft O levels eventually made it through their polytechnic results... matter more is are you putting in effort for it, else I myself dun mind give e chance to others or foreigners

its not easy to make it with polytechnic results. Because only 20 % places for all 5 plotechnics and yr chances are good to zero. Unless u are a brilliant student in polytechnic. If thats the case u wouldnt have gone polytechnic anyway.

this is psychology, when some foreigner comes to singapore, he or she finds that its not rosy as they first thought it was. So psychology will tell u is just go back to their own country after earning some money and be with their loved ones. 2 things advantages they are getting = money + reunite with family after their brief stint in singapore. So in this situation, they are mch better off than they have never left their country.

I am really sorry that our govt has been taken in for a ride.

i can tell u one thing, The PRC will better apprciate their China government after they have spent some tine here. A PRC told me, that. after she came to singapore, PRC gorverment seems so much better to her.

and seriously foreigners will cry if they go to NS. We singaporeans are defintely more stronger minded than them.