SINGAPORE: Elderly to get upto $1,000 as Bonus

SINGAPORE (ChannelNews Asia), February 15, 2007: Older Singaporeans, aged 55 and above, will be getting up to $1,000 in a new Senior Citizens' Bonus on top of their GST credits. This will benefit 544,000 senior citizens and cost $400 million over four years. Older Singaporeans, like 69-year old Abdul Hassan Sulaiman, will be getting more Senior Citizen's Bonus to help them cope with the GST increase. Abdul Hassan earns about $300 a month as a part-time security guard. He and his 67-year-old wife live in a four-room flat with their 36-year-old son who earns $1,300 a month as a senior security officer. On top of the GST Credits, the elderly couple will each qualify for $800 in Senior Citizens' Bonus. All older Singaporeans aged 55 and above will get a Senior Citizen's Bonus as long as their annual Assessible Income is not more than $100,000. The amount they get will also depend on the annual value of their home. Singaporeans aged 60 and above will get the most - $1,000 for those in 3-room or smaller flats and $400 for those better off. Singaporeans, aged 55 to 59, living in bigger homes will get $200. The Bonus will be paid over the next four years, starting from July 1st this year. Two-thirds of the Senior Citizens' Bonus will be given in cash, and one-third credited into their MediSave accounts. This comes as good news to Abdul Hassan and his wife. He is currently using her MediSave savings to pay for his diabetes treatment. Abdul Hassan says: "Because my MediSave is finished already, I transfer from my wife's MediSave. Balance is $14,000 over but one injection costs $580." The family will also benefit from an one-off property tax rebate of up to $100 a year in the next two years (2008 and 2009). The Property Tax Rebate, which will cost the Government $200 million, will benefit about one million 3- and 4-room HDB flat owners, who'll pay little or no property tax in 2008 and 2009. Second Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam says: "Most households will receive GST Credits, Senior Citizens' Bonuses, Post-Secondary Education Account top-ups, Utilities-save, Service and Conservancy Charges, rental rebates and property tax rebates. "Taking these offsets alone, those living in 4-room flats will receive benefits that are, on average, 7 times the extra GST they will have to pay each year. In other words, 7 years of offsets. Even those in executive flats will receive 4 years' worth of offset. The lowest-income households will receive the most - for instance, 2-roomers will receive about 16 years' worth." Pensioners are also not forgotten. The Government has decided to increase the Singapore Allowance further by $20 per month. It is also raising the gross pension ceiling from the current $1,100 to $1,150 a month. The revision will give an additional $4 million a year to pensioners in Singapore. Copyright © 2006 MCN International Pte Ltd