A netizen spent $1,149 on a brand new 55-inch Samsung TV at Mustafa Centre, as well as another $500 to ship it to his father in India last August.

However, as of today (more than 15 months later), his television still hasn’t been delivered to his father, according to STOMP.

He said that when he asked the shipping company about it, they kept making excuses and delaying the delivery for the television.

The netizen, Kuras, shared that he has since made a police report about the company, and lamented how he lost $1,149 and the shipment fee of $500.

He added that he wasn’t the only one, with other victims coming forward and forming a Whatsapp group.

The Singapore Police Force also confirmed that a police report has been lodged against Tamilan Express Cargo & Logistics, at 6 Cuff Road in Little India.

The ups and downs of investing.

Suppose conservatively, the long term real rate of returns net of inflation for Temasek is 4%.

Since the NIRC allows Singov to spend 50% of the expected long term rate of real return, this means up to 2% may used to supplement Singov budget (and shelter the population from even higher GST).

So 2% of Temasek’s net portfolio value of about S$400 billion would be S$8 billion.

But even if we use a more conservative valuation of Temasek, say based on retained earnings, that is less volatile, we could still be talking about 2% of say S$300 billion, or S$6 billion.

Currently, 7% of GST adds about S$12 billion to our Singov coffers in 2021.

So each 1% of GST adds about S$1.7 billion to our Singov revenue.

So S$6-8 billion of NIRC contribution from Temasek would translate to 3-5% more in GST.

The current 7% GST or S$12 billion revenue is behind corporate income tax revenues of over S$17.5 billion, and personal income tax revenue of S$13.8 billion.

All 3 sources of tax revenue are each less than the NIRC contribution of about S$20 billion.

[Side note:

NIRC contribution for FY2021 was estimated to be S$19.56 billion, and projected to be S$21.6 billion for FY2022.]

Without reserves saved, invested and grown over generations, Sg GST would need to climb to 12% more of GST to make up for the S$20 billion of spending capacity that the NIRC framework has given.

Wow!

And don’t forget!

50% of the GST is paid by tourists and foreign residents of Sg. This is net of refunds for tourists too!

And the top 20% of households by income paid another 20% of the GST revenue. This is kind of proportionately carrying their share of GST, with some support from the foreign households and tourists too.

And 80% of the Singaporean households pay 30% of the GST collection. This works out to be about S$3.6 billion, or equivalent to slightly over 2% of GST, with the balance paid for by foreign households in Sg, and the tourists.

Hence, despite the tourist GST refund scheme for goods that they take out of the country, the bulk of their spending on food, hotels and other services are not refundable.

Hence, all Singapore households, local or foreign, benefit from GST paid by tourists.

Without NIRC contributions from GIC, MAS and Temasek, we would be missing S$20 billion of spending capacity, which must come from corporate income, personal income, or goods & services taxes.

Already, by taking 50% for spending, this means 50% less for reinvestment for more future income.

Let’s not be greedy for more, and kill the golden geese that help us keep our tax burden lower than most countries, other than those who can benefit from oil reserves or other natural resources.

====

Afternote:

I’m not sure if the 80% of households contributing 30% of the GST pie is before or after the GST vouchers for the households.

If it is before, then the 80% of households would have paid an even smaller slice of the GST pie.

Does anyone know?

An anonymous netizen who works at a childcare centre, shared a couple of paranormal experiences that she faced on the Threads of the Unknown Facebook page, detailing how her students were disturbed by what appears to be a supernatural entity.

Here is what she said

This happened at my workplace a few years ago. I used to work in a childcare centre at the west side of Singapore. For me, these incidents always happen around noon when the childrens get ready for their nap time.

The first incident was when the kids were all lying down on their cots for nap and I was sitting by the teacher’s table overlooking them.
One of the kids look at the corner of the room behind me and quickly covered herself with her blanket. She did that a few times and when I asked her why, she said that she was scared.
I comforted her and told her that there’s nothing to be worried about and pat her to sleep.
A while later I felt the chair at the back of my classroom move from its place. I could see it move from the corner of my eyes.
I knew something was not right so I quickly switched on some prayer recitals and nothing happened again for that day.

Another incident that happened was when the kids were lining up to go toilet. Suddenly there was a commotion between the boys who were lining up.
When I approached them, they told me that someone has been using the toilet for a long time and hasn’t come out yet.
(The toilets are fitted with half length doors for teachers to check in on the kids) When I went to check, I realised that there was no one inside the toilet but it was locked from the inside.
I unlocked the door and told the kids to finish up their toileting soon.
The kids were all tensed as they shared that it could possibly be a “ghost” that was using the toilet.
I had to convince the class that it was probably caused by the lock but deep down I knew that the lock was not faulty and the kids had no way to lock it from the outside.
As we were leaving the toilet area, I saw the lid of the bin open and close on its own. It felt as though someone had really used the toilet but we’re just not sure what.

These kind of incidents were common at our school. An ex colleague of ours who is into paranormal stuff did mention that he felt the presence of little children around our school. Although they’re harmless, we were told to just ignore it.

No shadows can be seen, by me that is, but we can hear sounds coming from inside the store room area. We have kids claiming that they see “someone” but we always tell them it’s nothing so they won’t get scared.

I have since left the job a few years back. I hope those who are currently there now are not affected by these occurrences.

Source: Threads of the Unknown Facebook

[125kg lift, celebrities in Chong Pang, and bursaries]

Joined residents at Chong Pang Fitness Fiesta.

I had said that I will try and break my personal best of 105kg. It was a way of raising awareness for the event, and encouraging more to participate.

I managed to lift 125kg, new personal best.

Many others joined me. One young man lifted 140kg. Two older women took part in the deadlift. Others were trying chin ups, and different exercises. Including seniors.

After the fitness event, I did a walkabout in Chong Pang City. Spotted local celebrities Cavin Soh and Liu Ling Ling at one of the coffeeshops. Took a wefie with them.

Also met some youths practicing Aikido at one of the void decks – many doing different physical activities.

Ended the morning with a bursary award event for over 100 Polytechnic and ITE students. Bright smiles, happy families.

Busy Sunday.