Greater shift towards indirect taxes may be on the cards

MORE often than not, the parliamentary debate on the national budget opens with a chorus of requests from MPs for still more to be done for heartland households or resource-stretched businesses buffeted by rising costs.

Given the largesse of the 2015 Jubilee Budget, however, the overriding concern this year seemed to have moved instead to the issue of whether the economy would be able to sustain the expected spending set up by the initiatives to strengthen social safety nets as well as the country's overall socio-economic development needs. It's a valid question that warrants wider debate. To be sure, most of the business leaders polled for BT's Views from the Top lauded the new measures to get Singapore and Singaporeans future-ready via SkillsFuture, and to enhance support for companie…