Extending GST Voucher Scheme to Middle-income Households and Reviewing Assessable Income Threshold for GST-related Assistance
Ministry of FinanceSpeakers
Summary
This question concerns Mr Yip Hon Weng’s inquiry on extending the GST Voucher scheme to more middle-income households, reviewing assessable income thresholds, and increasing support for families with children. Senior Parliamentary Secretary Shawn Huang Wei Zhong noted that thresholds are reviewed regularly and highlighted Budget 2025 measures like additional CDC Vouchers and U-Save rebates up to $760 for HDB households. He detailed family assistance, including $500 Child LifeSG Credits for children aged 12 and below, Edusave top-ups, and $1,000 annual credits for third and subsequent children. Structural supports were also mentioned, such as reduced childcare fee caps and the planned addition of 40,000 infant and childcare places to further help families. These initiatives aim to ensure that cost-of-living measures remain targeted toward helping lower- and middle-income Singaporeans manage their household expenses effectively amidst rising costs.
Transcript
7 Mr Yip Hon Weng asked the Prime Minister and Minister for Finance (a) whether the Ministry will consider introducing an extension of the GST Voucher scheme to assist more middle-income households in view of rising living costs and household expenses; (b) whether the Ministry will review the assessable income threshold to qualify for GST-related assistance; and (c) whether there are plans to offer additional support for families with children who fall within the qualifying income threshold.
The Senior Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Finance (Mr Shawn Huang Wei Zhong) (for the Prime Minister and Minister for Finance): Mr Speaker, the Goods and Services Tax Voucher (GSTV) scheme helps lower- and middle-income households offset their GST expenses. We last updated the Assessable Income threshold for the GSTV scheme in 2022 and will continue to review this to ensure support is targeted at those who need it more.
The Government has also introduced Cost-of-Living (COL) measures to help Singaporean households cope with their living expenses. As announced at Budget 2025, the Government will be providing additional Community Development Council (CDC) Vouchers to all Singaporean households and providing additional U-Save such that eligible HDB households will receive double the regular U-Save, or up to $760, this financial year.
On top of these, the families that meet the eligibility criteria will receive additional support as announced at Budget 2025 in the form of $500 Child LifeSG Credits for each Singaporean child aged 12 and below this year, and $500 top-ups to the Edusave account or Post-Secondary Education Account for Singaporeans aged 13 to 20 years this year.
We have also introduced structural enhancements to better support families. These include a further reduction in the monthly full-day childcare fee caps in Government-supported preschools, and the opening of nearly 40,000 new infant and childcare places by Anchor Operators over the next few years.
We have also rolled out the Large Families Scheme, which includes $1,000 in Large Family LifeSG Credits disbursed annually to families for each of their third and subsequent child during the years that the child turns one to six. These will help to defray a wide range of household expenses for families with children.
10.31 am
Mr Speaker: Order. End of Question Time.
[Pursuant to Standing Order No 22(3), provided that Members had not asked for questions standing in their names to be postponed to a later Sitting day or withdrawn, written answers to questions not reached by the end of Question Time are reproduced in the Appendix.]