GRANTS TO OFFSET GST

Dr Kanwaljit Soin asked the Minister for Finance, in regard to the $3 million given to the Citizens' Consultative Committees to help low-income families to apply for grants to offset GST, (a) what is the number of families who have made use of this scheme; (b) has the scheme been adequately publicized; and (c) has the scheme been adequately used and, if not, what are the reasons.

Dr Richard Hu Tsu Tau: (a) As of 13th March 1995, a total of 24 families have been given assistance under the Citizens' Consultative Committee (CCC) Assistance Scheme.

(b) The Scheme was publicised in a press statement issued on 30th March 1994. Details of the Scheme were also circulated to all CCCs at the same time prior to the launch of the Scheme on 1st April 1994.

(c) The purpose of the CCC Assistance Scheme is to ensure that the GST does not make low income families worse off. The utilisation of the Scheme was never expected to be high because of the generous GST offset measures introduced, which have been more than sufficient to offset the GST expenditure in most instances, in particular, those living in HDB flats. As a result, very few low income families have become worse off on account of GST to warrant assistance under the Scheme.