The Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) has called for more sweeping measures to tackle rising living costs, urging the Government to roll back petrol duties and introduce a windfall tax on energy companies.
In a Facebook post on Tuesday (14 April), SDP chairman Paul Tambyah said current efforts fall short of addressing deeper economic pressures caused by surging global energy prices.
Source: Paul Tambyah on Facebook
Dr Tambyah described the Government’s response as “tepid”, noting that support appears largely limited to vouchers for households affected by fuel price increases.
He added that the cost of living had already been rising even before the recent Middle East conflict, attributing this to past tax and fee increases.
In a statement released on 10 April, Dr Tambyah said: “The Government must do more than just bring forward the issuance of CDC vouchers. It must also enact a comprehensive and forward-looking set of economic measures.”
Source: Paul Tambyah on Facebook
Among its key proposals, the SDP urged Prime Minister Lawrence Wong to reverse the 23% petrol duty hike implemented in 2021.
The party argued that returning to 2020 tax levels would help ease cost pressures for both businesses and consumers.
SDP noted that the 2020 tax levels were already the highest in ASEAN countries at the time.
According to the SDP, such a move would provide more sustained financial relief compared to short-term subsidies.
Source: Paul Tambyah on Facebook
The SDP also proposed introducing a windfall tax on excess profits earned by oil and gas companies.
Singapore currently applies a minimum effective tax rate of 15% on such firms, but the party suggested increasing this to 17%.
Source: Paul Tambyah on Facebook
The opposition party mentioned that electricity and gas tariffs for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and consumers must be lowered.
SDP pointed to profits reported by SP Group, which exceeded S$1 billion annually in recent years, including a net profit of S$1.11 billion in 2023/24.
Framing its proposals as structural reforms, the SDP said Singaporeans “deserve policies that do not merely alleviate short-term pressures”.
“It is time that the PAP stops financially milking Singaporeans and starts taking care of the people,” Dr Tambyah said.
The party’s proposals come amid broader concerns over rising global energy costs and their knock-on effects on daily expenses in Singapore.
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Featured image adapted from Paul Tambyah on Facebook.