RUBBER ESTATES ASSESSMENT (AMENDMENT) BILL

Order for Second read.

4.35 p.m.

The Minister for Finance (Dr Goh Keng Swee): Mr Deputy, Speaker, I have the Yang di-Pertuan Negara's recommendation to proceed with this Bill.

Sir, I beg to move, "That the Bill be now read a Second time."

Sir, the object of this Bill is to give effect to the changes in the rate of assessment on large rubber holdings which I announced in my Budget Speech on the 29th of November.

At present, when the price of rubber is under 20 cents per pound, the estate owner pays 1 per cent of the price as assessment. The maximum rate payable at present is 3¼ per cent and this applies only when the price exceeds 35 cents. Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, you will see that at the present price of about 85 cents per pound, an estate owner pays only 2½ cents per pound. This is considerably lower than the export duty on rubber in the Federation. When the price of rubber moves upwards, this disparity becomes even greater. There is no valid justification for this anomaly and the scale which is set out in clause 3 of the Bill goes some way to reducing this disparity.

There is another matter which I wish to draw attention to. This is that land in Singapore could be put to better use than for rubber plantations, and so I propose, as a measure to discourage the alienation of land for rubber, to impose a quarterly rate of $8.75 per acre on land under immature rubber or where the trees have been abandoned. The necessary provisions are contained in clause 3, paragraph (a) and clause 4 of the Bill, while clause 6 provides for the necessary returns to be made by estate owners to the tax department.

Sir, I beg to move.

Question put, and agreed to.

Bill accordingly read a Second time and committed to a Committee of the whole Assembly.

Assembly immediately resolved itself into a Committee on the Bill. -[Dr Goh Keng Swee].

Bill considered in Committee.

[Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER (Mr Kandasamy) in the Chair]

4.41 p.m.

Clauses 1 and 2 ordered to stand part of the Bill.

Clause 3 -

Dr Goh Keng Swee: Mr Kandasamy,. I beg to move,

In page 2, to leave out lines 11 to 17 inclusive and insert-

`"Provided that in respect of any such rubber estate or part thereof in which no rubber trees are tapped or in which the rubber trees are not tapped to the satisfaction of the Comptroller the owner thereof shall pay to the Comptroller a rate of eight dollars and seventy-five cents per acre or part of an acre in respect of such quarter in addition to the rate ascertained in the manner hereafter provided."; and'.

The reason for amending the proviso in clause 3 is to close up the loopholes which the original proviso has. Under the original proviso, the owner of a rubber estate could evade tax by tapping trees once or twice a quarter. They would then have to pay the rate for the rubber produced, and as this would be very little, the assessment would be small. The new proviso therefore allows the Comptroller to require payment of the rate for untapped trees if he is not satisfied that the yield is economic.

Amendment agreed to.

Clause 3, as amended, ordered to stand part of the Bill.

Clause 4 -

Dr Goh Keng Swee: Mr Kandasamy, Sir, I beg to move,

In page 3, to leave out lines 29 to 34 inclusive and insert-

`"Provided that in respect of any such rubber estate or part thereof in which no rubber trees are tapped or in which the rubber trees are not tapped to the satisfaction of the Comptroller the owner thereof shall pay to the Comptroller a rate of eight dollars and seventy-five cents per acre or part of an acre in respect of such quarter in addition to the rate ascertained in the manner hereafter provided.".'.

Sir, this is an identical amendment with the previous one, and the reasons are the same.

Amendment agreed to.

Clause 4, as amended, ordered to stand part of the Bill.

Clauses 5 to 14 inclusive ordered to stand part of the Bill.

Bill reported, with amendments; read a Third time and passed.