HIDDEN_ADDENDA, MINISTRY OF FINANCE

MINISTRY OF FINANCE: MR LEE HSIEN LOONG

Prime Minister and Minister for Finance

The key priority of the Ministry of Finance in the coming years will be to help Singaporeans stay together and move ahead – by building a vibrant global city with an inclusive and caring community, and by investing in growth areas to secure Singapore’s future in a fast changing world.

Ensuring fiscal balance

A sound fiscal position provides the basis for macroeconomic stability and sustained non-inflationary growth. The Government will aim to balance the budget over the business cycle, while promoting opportunities to grow the economy and create good jobs for Singaporeans in a rapidly changing Asian and global environment.

Changing demographics and growing social needs are pushing up social expenditure. At the same time, the Government has had to reduce income tax rates amid increasing global competition to attract investments and encourage enterprise and talent. The Government will therefore continue to explore how best it can preserve and grow revenues, without undermining economic growth, so as to fund the necessary expenditures. The Singapore Totalisator Board will also increase its donations towards social and community causes in sports, education, arts and culture.

Strong financial reserves

Our reserves are the foundation for a financially secure Singapore and a stable Singapore dollar. The Government will continue to grow and protect the long-term value of our reserves for future generations of Singaporeans through judicious and prudent investments for optimal financial returns. We have to look to our earnings from investments to help meet emerging economic, social and security priorities, including health, education, and research and development needs.

Vibrant private sector

The Government will foster a business-friendly pro-enterprise environment to support our companies and entrepreneurs in three key areas – the tax framework, the regulatory regime and enabling infrastructure.

We will maintain an internationally competitive, smartly efficient, business friendly and predictable tax regime. We will keep effective tax rates low. To provide companies with tax certainty on domestic and international transactions, we will make available advance tax rulings and provide transfer pricing guidelines. The network of Avoidance of Double Taxation Agreements will be broadened and updated. We will improve tax processing by extending the use of info-comm technology. E-filing of GST returns will speed up refunds to companies, and electronic transmission of employee income data will make filing of personal income tax returns more convenient for many more people.

The Government will continually review the corporate regulatory regime with a view to enhancing corporate accountability while keeping costs low. The period over which businesses are required to keep records of their transactions will be reduced from the current seven years to five years. To facilitate entrepreneurship, the contractual age for business transactions, as well as the age for proprietorships, partnerships and directorships, will be reduced to 18 years from the current 21 years.

The Government will continue to invest in infrastructure that enables economic growth. The TradeNet system will be expanded and launched as TradeXchange to facilitate information exchange and transactions among the various trading networks and users in Singapore. TradeXchange is a one-stop integrated trade and logistics portal which will include customs regulatory offerings of TradeNet and other trade-related business-to-business services. The Government will also facilitate the use of XBRL (Extensible Business Reporting Language) in the preparation and electronic exchange of financial information; XBRL is an IT standard to define and exchange business and financial performance information.

Value-driven public sector

The Government will drive performance in the public sector to deliver the best value for taxpayers' monies. iGov2010 maps out Singapore's next strategic steps in e-Government. Processes will be streamlined and those that span multiple agencies will be integrated so as to offer citizens and customers greater convenience and better service quality. There will be an extensive array of mobile services, and a manifold increase in the number of CitizenConnect Centres at Community Clubs where the public can find personal help and easy access to over 1,600 Government online services within their neighbourhoods.

The Government has brought together the expertise and resources of the public and private sectors to provide best value for money under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) model. This approach has been adopted for a desalination plant, a NEWater plant, an incineration plant and TradeXchange. Among the PPP projects planned for the coming years are the Sports Hub to be developed at the site of the National Stadium, and the Regional Campus to be built at the Institute of Technical Education.

The Centre for Shared Services, CSS, launched on 1st April 2006, is a significant move to bring about integration within the public sector. By pooling the delivery of corporate services of Ministries together, the Public Service has achieved greater value and service excellence. By the middle of 2007, CSS will cover all Ministries and departments and broaden its range of service offerings. In the years following, it will improve in its service quality and responsiveness. Statutory Boards will also study the economic viability of consolidating their IT systems to support their Finance, HR and procurement functions.