Singapore public spending
The Singapore government builds roads and train tracks, creates bus routes and the world’s nicest airport, and runs a really great airline. Fares on public transit and taxis are very low, probably subsidized, certainly controlled. The government builds and runs schools and universities; it builds and sells high-standard public housing; it hires armies of cleaners, builders, maintenance workers, arborists and gardeners to keep the place looking good. It sponsors university research; my husband’s colleagues administer grants of $4 million and $6 million. It built a new and beautiful campus for training teachers (where I now work: www.nie.edu.sg), and pays me and many other people to work there. It pays its officials very well, to obviate the necessity for taking bribes: the Prime Minister’s salary is $3 million. The government seems to be awash in cash.
Where does Singapore get the money?
They have income taxes (top rate of 20%), a GST of 7%, and they charge through the nose for the privilege of owning a car – a good $10,000 per car (I don’t know if that’s per year or per vehicle) – and they charge everyone a fee for going into the downtown area during business hours. (London has followed their lead, and San Francisco is talking about it.) They don’t have a national health or pension plan, although they do set up Citizen Providential Accounts for every Singaporean, with guaranteed interest rates on the money that citizens contribute. Their army is small and not involved in overseas adventures; every male Singaporean must serve for a while. And because one party has held power for the last 37 years there’s no serious opposition, so no need for funds for political campaigns, which I’m beginning to view as a serious drain on the US economy (although it would be interesting to see exactly how many jobs the current U.S. election system supports).