The Singapore government is set to impose an additional 15% on excise duty across all tobacco products, with effect from 14 February onwards.
Excise duty is the duty that is levied on goods that are imported into or manufactured in Singapore.
Speaking during his 2023 Budget Statement, the Minister of Finance and Singapore Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong said that the move is to discourage the consumption of tobacco products.
The increase in excise duties for tobacco products comes as part of a number of changes to taxes, as explained in the Budget 2023.
Wong said that the increase in excise duties is expected to generate about SGD$100 million in revenue each year.
Snippet from MOF’s press release
EXCISE DUTIES FOR TOBACCO PRODUCTS
To discourage the consumption of tobacco products, we will raise the excise duties by 15% across all tobacco products. These tax changes will take effect on and after 14 February 2023:
(A) Cigars, Cheroots, Cigarillos and Cigarettes, and Other Manufactured Tobacco: From $427/kgm or 42.7 cents/stick of cigarette to $491/kgm or 49.1 cents/stick of cigarette.
(B) Beedies, Ang Hoon, and Other Smokeless Tobacco: From $329/kgm to $378/kgm.
(C) Unmanufactured and Cut Tobacco and Other Tobacco Refuse: From $388/kgm to $446/kgm.
Netizens’ comments
Of course smoking is bad. But benefiting from people’s habits is worse.
C’mon smokers, no matter how, it is still way cheaper than Australia where a pack of ciggies cost a whopping A$50
OMG!!! Smokers, all gotta cut down on smoking…
The government could actually impose a higher % in the excise duty, but they didn’t. Reason being if the increase is too steep, many smokers will quit altogether, causing a drop in the tobacco demand. Only by increasing it ever so slightly, smokers can still smoke and government can still collect a substantial amount from the excise duty.
The Minister of Finance and Deputy Prime Minister, Lawrence Wong, delivered his 2023 Budget speech in parliament on 14 February and among the announcements was the increase in the CPF Housing Grant.
Snippets from MOF’s press release
ANNEX E-1: INCREASE TO THE CPF HOUSING GRANT FOR FIRST-TIME HOMEBUYERS PURCHASING RESALE HDB FLATS
The Government will increase the CPF Housing Grant to provide more support for first-time homebuyers purchasing resale HDB flats. Eligible homebuyers who submit their resale applications on or after 3.30pm, 14 February 2023, will qualify for this increased grant. They will receive the additional grant amount from April 2023 onwards.
(A) First-Timer Families
For eligible First-Timer families, the grant amount will be increased:
a) From $50,000 to $80,000 for those buying a 2- to 4-room resale flat; and b) From $40,000 to $50,000 for those buying a 5-room or larger resale flat.
Together with the Enhanced CPF Housing Grant1 and the Proximity Housing Grant, eligible First-Timer families will be able to receive up to $190,000 in housing grants (see Table 1).
(B) First-Timer Singles
First-Timer singles buying resale HDB flats will also benefit from the increase to the CPF Housing Grant. The grant amount, which is half of that for families, will be increased:
a) From $25,000 to $40,000, for those buying a 2- to 4-room resale flat; and b) From $20,000 to $25,000, for those buying a 5-room resale flat.
Together with the Enhanced CPF Housing Grant and the Proximity Housing Grant, eligible First-Timer singles will be able to receive up to $95,000 in housing grants (see Table 2).
The Minister of Finance and Deputy Prime Minister, Lawrence Wong, delivered his 2023 Budget speech in parliament on 14 February and announced several one-off support measures under the Assurance Package (AP).
Snippets from MOF’s press release
The enhanced Assurance Package (AP) and the enhanced permanent GST Voucher (GSTV) scheme aim to help Singaporeans tide through this period of higher inflation and cushion the impact of the GST rate increases.
(A) Enhancements to the Permanent GSTV Scheme
GSTV – Cash
The enhanced permanent GSTV scheme will continue to provide help for lower- to middle-income Singaporean households to defray GST expenses, beyond the transitional support covered by the AP.
At Budget 2022, the permanent GSTV scheme was enhanced by (i) raising the Assessable Income (AI) threshold from $28,000 to $34,000, (ii) increasing the GSTV – Cash quantum by up to $200, and (iii) making the Service and Conservancy Charges (S&CC) Rebate a component of the permanent GSTV scheme.
The GSTV – Cash quantum will be further increased, by up to $350. This increase will be implemented over 2023 and 2024.
a) Those residing in homes with an Annual Value (AV) of $13,000 and below will receive $200 more in 2023, followed by an additional $150 from 2024 onwards.
b) Those residing in homes with an AV above $13,000 and up to $21,000 will receive $100 more in 2023, followed by an additional $100 from 2024 onwards.
Refer to Table 1 for the scheme details.
The enhanced GSTV – Cash will benefit about 1.5 million adult Singaporeans in August every year.
(C) Enhancements to the Assurance Package
At Budget 2022, the Government enhanced the AP from $6.0 billion to $6.6 billion to cushion the impact of the planned GST increases for all Singaporeans.
As announced at Budget 2023, the Government will further enhance the AP from $6.6 billion to $9.6 billion, to account for higher inflation, as well as provide additional one-off support to Singaporeans in 2023 to address immediate cost-of-living (COL) concerns.
All eligible adult Singaporeans (i) aged 21 years and above (ii) with AI of not more than $100,000 and (iii) who do not own more than one property will receive additional AP Cash of between $300 and $650 over the remaining years of the AP, in December every year. This will bring the total AP Cash payments received by adult Singaporeans to between $700 and $2,250 over five years. Refer to Table 5 for details.
AP Cash will benefit about 2.9 million adult Singaporeans.
2023 COL Special Payment
All eligible adult Singaporean citizens (i) who are aged 21 years and above in 2023, (ii) with AI of not more than $100,000, and (iii) who do not own more than one property, will receive one-off cash between $200 and $400 in June 2023. Refer to Table 7 for the scheme details.
The COL Special Payment will benefit about 2.5 million adult Singaporeans.
Lawrence Wong’s Facebook post
In #SGBudget2023, I announced comprehensive measures to help Singaporeans tide through the immediate cost of living pressures. We are also taking decisive steps to secure our future in a more uncertain and troubled world.
We are pursuing new strategies in several key areas through the #ForwardSG exercise, which will be completed in the second half of this year. But in this Budget, we are making several significant moves, including:
Assurance Package top-up to $9.6 billion to help with cost of living
More support for first-timer families to get a BTO or resale flat
More help for parents to raise your children
Equipping workers to find good jobs and developing our local enterprises
More support for the lower-income and vulnerable communities
Building up our resilience to future shocks, including climate change and future crises
The road ahead will not be easy. But we have braved many hardships before as a country, and always emerged stronger. So long as we stand as one people and keep alive the #SingaporeSpirit, we can move forward together with confidence!
today my hardworking collegue finally snapped and told off the boss
Boss always throw his weight arounf. Make all of us work and work long hours don’t let is sit to rest in between even when there’s no customer.
He even wanted to confiscate his handphone just because he had to made a urgent call because his child fall sick.
i was working 11pm to 8am, then saw my hardworking collegue who came in at 7am resigned on the spot, boss made me stay back to look after the counter while he talked to hardworking collegue in office. In the end i left only at 11am.
Today he finally snapprd and told him off and resigned on tje spot. We are so proud of him but worry for him too.
Later he told us luckily his wife managed to help him to got PR and confirmed. We are so happy for him. Some boss is like that like to torment their workers because they know the workers need the job.
Expected their workers to sacrifice their own life to work solely for them to maximise their profits.
Really he told us his wife who is already PR for quite a while got a letter from her workplace that helped him with the application. Her daughter is also studying here. He is a good guy i am sure he would find something better.
Netizens’ comments
Sounds like your typical retail workplace. I’ll be honest because I was in the same shoes… unless you upskill and find better prospects you will be stuck in this situation. If you are a student getting extra cash it’s fine but if this is your full time job then you know what you have to do.
many bosses in reputable companies also don’t give market rate increments to the older workers (age 50++) because they have almost have 0% chance to job hop
Besides, even if he had full citizenship, he might be able to command a higher pay, but no one in the right mind is going to hire a ex retail staff to anything else that is not fnb/retail.
My (23F) boyfriend (27M) sent me a breakup message so he could cheat
My bf was travelling for work. He travels often, almost weekly. I don’t know wtf just happened or how he’s justifying it. I’m genuinely going crazy. We’ve been together for 10 months.
We had a bit of a fight before he left. It was about work, also. Last Friday, I received a weird text from him saying we’re done as a couple.
He said it was over and we could talk about handling the breakup once he’s home. I was startled. Wtf just happened, I had no idea.
I waited for him to come back, and it turns out he broke up with me on the spot so he could sleep with another girl at the hotel without technically “cheating”.
He’s telling me that it’s my choice to leave the relationship or stay, but we have to settle our differences if I choose to stay.
He’s acting so normal like nothing happened. Is he making sense or am I just crazy?
Netizens’ comments
I worry that you are even questioning what you should be doing here. Whatever direction this man is headed, turn the opposite and get moving.
You should keep him as an ex. He has no regard for you.
He is a manipulative a-hole. He is acting normal in the hopes that you will be the one thinking you did wrong and then coming back to him, begging him to get back together. You do have a choice and since it seems you have some self respect, your choice should be to leave. Also, if you choose to stay, settling the differences really just mean he gets to tell you what will happen going forward. He will constantly invalidate your feelings about this as “I did not cheat, we were broken up”.
Most relationship issues are difficult, this is not. Break up with him.
The man’s logic is messed up! So, if you stay together is he just going to send you a breakup text every time he wants to sleep with someone else?
Employer threaten foreigner friend who is resigning
My friend is a Malaysian who is currently on an EP in Singapore. She signed a contract with a 2 year bond with her current company 1 year ago.
However, due to the lack of opportunities in the firm (SME), she went and managed to get a job at an MNC. This is in the audit field.
Currently, her employer rejected her resignation and has threatened to sue her if she resigned. Previously, before signing the contract, she has enquired about the penalty for breaking the bond and the company has stated it as 2 months of pay.
However, the company now say it is not valid as it is not part of the contract and has said that they would settle it in court instead.
She has also checked with MOM with regards to whether their email reply to her enquiry about the penalty is valid but MOM told her it is a legal matter and they cannot advise.
MOM told her to approach Ministry of Law but Ministry of Law say they cannot help her as she is a foreigner.
Based on contract, she is required to give only 1 month notice but the employer want her to give minimum 3 months. The boss also threaten her that he can make her not be able to work in Singapore again.
At this point, we don’t know what her employer wants also because he keeps increasing the terms of what he want with every conversation.
Have told her to have everything in writing via email but boss told her it is not valid and also refuse to communicate via email.
My friend does not want to take the risk of going to court due to lack of financial resources. Are there any advice or options left for her now? She don’t want to take my money to consult a lawyer so idk how else I can help.
Choosing not to date a girl because of her small chest?
I’m probably going to get chewed up for this. But I’m just posting because I don’t like what I’m thinking. I’m seeing a girl and have done for 3 dates. She’s really pretty. Lovely girl. Most things about her are attractive.
Except she’s completely flat chested and I’ve always been someone who’s liked a bit of size around there. It’s almost the first thing that attracts me to someone and I’ve always liked curves.
I’m not sure I can date someone with nothing there. But I hate myself for saying that. Is this a reason to stop dating her?
I won’t tell her it’s for this reason obviously
I honestly don’t know. I like her enough to want to keep seeing her. I don’t know if I like her enough to want to see ONLY her for the rest of my life. If that makes sense
Im kinda looking for a girl who could be my wife now. Im not that young anymore and I don’t want to end up breakup up in a few years being in a bad place to date
I don’t know enough how much of a deal breaker it is
Netizens’ comments
Learn from this. If breast size is really a dealbreaker for you, the nice thing is that’s something you can easily observe up front. Don’t waste 3 dates of the next girl’s time when you already know she doesn’t tick a “must have” box for you.
Why did you date her in the first place?
Dont waste her time if its such a major thing for you
If you can’t look past it – stop seeing her. it sounds like physical appearance is a major factor for you. That’s fine but don’t miss out on something good for things that won’t matter in the long run.
It’s up to you. Physical attraction does matter and that’s the truth. If this keeps being an issue then might as well end it before she ends up catching feelings. Don’t lead her on. But if you really love talking to her and see this as not a big deal then why not. I do think this is something you might not move past tho but who knows.
You are only 25 chill and wait to date someone who fits your preference. Don’t force yourself to be with this woman because you find her lovely, that wouldn’t be fair to her or yourself. I would advice putting yourself in her position and how you would feel, you wouldn’t want strung along. Having preferences is fine as long as you aren’t being nasty or judgemental about which you don’t seem to be so don’t feel bad.
I [30M] am in a relationship with a single mom [27F] and I regret it.
I started this relationship 2 years ago when I was 28. we only see each other on the weekends. She has her son M-F and the weekends dad gets her son (7yo). I really only see him on Sunday nights when he gets dropped.
I was always nice to her son. I would play Minecraft and take him out, even went on vacation with her and him a couple of times. But I’m not going to lie I never loved the idea of dealing with him.
Despite my attempts at treating him like my own he has proven time and time again that he’s just a difficult kid to deal with. I want to keep this post short so I’ll spare the details.
But the problem is that recently he’s been with us every weekend and I’m starting to get a clearer view into my future with her and her son.
I have zero time to myself, there’s no intimacy (haven’t had it in over a month), and I find myself hiding in the bathroom just to get a moments peace.
I no longer look forward to my weekends I actually look forward to Monday because at least after work I have a few hours to myself for some peace.
I’m starting to realize what my future is looking like and it horrifies me. I tried having a conversation with my girl about it a few times but it always seems to lead to an argument. It’s like I have all the responsibilities of a parent, but none of the authority.
I really love my girlfriend and we have such a good relationship outside of her son, but now I think it’s time for me to end it.
I just feel completely awful about the whole thing because I knew she was a single mother before I got into this relationship, but I kept ignoring red flags and kept telling myself it would get better, but it hasn’t, it just kept getting worse.
I feel like I wasted both of our time but i’m just having trouble letting go. Every time I think about ending it I get scared that i’ll miss her too much. But deep down I know that I have to. Any advice or anyone else go through this before?
My boyfriend (22M) rated me (20f) a 6 on a scale of 1-10.. which has really lowered my confidence and I don’t feel desired everytime we get physical. What should I do?
My boyfriend (22M) and I (20F) were playing some immature games and he started rating random people based on physical appearances.
He rated me a 6 which didn’t bother me until he rated my best friend an 8. I feel very insecure and ugly every time I look myself in the mirror. I’ve lost my confidence.
I communicated about this and he apologized and told me he loves me for my personality but I can’t take this shit out of my mind and can’t help but feel ugly everytime I’m with him, getting physical.
I don’t feel desired anymore even though he keeps telling me I’m hot. It just feels like he’s trying to cover up for that thing.
Netizens’ comments
He’s totally negging you. Trying to make you feel ‘down’ and insecure so you don’t look at his lacking personality as well as physicality. I’ve never played this game, but my husband always (I know he is not exactly telling the truth) told me from day 1 how I was a 10/10 or infinity out of 10. The point being is, your partner should want to hype you up, appreciate you, compliment you and love on you. OP. You should turn it around, rate his friend as a 8 and him as a 5. He’s not going to be happy about it too.
Listen. Partners do this in a relationship to break down your self esteem and trap you with them. Dump him, he’s a loser. You’re hot and you have a great personality. Kick him to the curb and find someone who tells you how incredible you are everyday.
I would’ve been like “It’s funny! I always saw you as a 5 and your friend an 8 too! that’s so crazy like it’s enough to break up!” Then I would’ve broke up with him. No way I’m dating someone who thinks my friend is hotter bc he must’ve checked her out Edit: I’ve asked my bf this before and he would say infinity and beyond! Get yourself a bf who who appreciates you and loves you
There’s so many things here that he said wrong. Ok the 6, would hurt anyone. But then your friend ? Nah bro. Even if he thinks she’s a ten it’s so impolite to tell you she’s higher then you. And by the way, just because that’s what he rated you doesn’t mean your a 6. At this point you should release yourself from this relationship, because the damage has been done and it’s affecting your intimacy with him. And the icing on the cake he says he’s with you For your personality ? Ok that’s nice but that didn’t make the pain go away for his first insult? That’s like saying he’s D is a 6 on a scale of 1-10, his friends D looks like his would be an 8, and that your man shouldn’t worry because even though he’s small and cute , your with him for his personality.
Little Farms Pte Ltd fined $13,500 for failure to arrange for SFA inspections, and selling imported food consignments prior to inspections
Little Farms Pte Ltd, a licensed food importer, was fined $13,500 by the Court today for failure to arrange for inspection, examination and certification by SFA, as well as for selling the imported food consignments prior to inspections.
2 Little Farms Pte Ltd had imported consignments of assorted chilled lamb products and assorted seafood products in Oct 2020 and Jul 2022 respectively.
On both occasions, the company failed to arrange for SFA to inspect, examine and certify the consignments and had proceeded to sell the products.
3 In Singapore, upon import of meat and fish products, importers must arrange for these products to be inspected, examined and certified by an authorised examiner before it is sold, distributed or exported.
Meat or fish products which are found to be unfit for human consumption will be seized and disposed.
4 Offenders who fail to arrange for the meat and fish products to be inspected, examined and certified by an authorised examiner before it is sold or distributed, shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $10,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or to both.
Offenders who had sold their meat consignments which had not been inspected are liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $50,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years or to both and, in the case of a second or subsequent conviction, to a fine not exceeding $100,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 years.
