He said "Yes, they are giving more supplements to Low Income Workers. Workers earning less than $1900 will get more income supplements and CPF contributions."
So I said "Wah, being poor in Singapore is very good hor?"
Uncle sniggered and said "In Singapore, you can only be very poor or very rich, in between pai tan jiak." (Difficult to earn a living).
Then he said "Tjeng hu also giving companies money to pay their staff more salary, tjeng hu will pay 40% of staff salary increments for workers earning less than $4000. Not bad lah, if you have a job lor. Taxi drivers don't have these benefits."
Just then, we heard an announcement on the radio that commercial vehicles including taxis will get a 30% road tax rebate!!
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And I excitedly said "Uncle!!! You heard this? You will get 30% road tax rebate!!!" to which he retorted "Our taxis are all rented, these rebates will go to taxi company, not to us!"
As I alighted from the cab, I told uncle "Uncle, let's hope the taxi companies will do the right thing. If not, National Taxi Association, NTA should do the right thing and push for the rebates to be passed back to all the taxi drivers!"
Uncle only said "Ok ok. Have a good day yar!"
<updates> 27 February 2013 -- National Taxi Association uged Taxi Operators to pass these rebates to the taxi drivers and Comfort agreed!
http://www.todayonline.com/singapore/cabbies-urge-operators-let-them-have-budget-2013s-full-road-tax-rebate
On 27 February, this was posted on TODAY.
ReplyDeleteSINGAPORE — ComfortDelGro, the largest taxi operator with almost six in every 10 taxis on the roads here, said it will pass on the Government’s one-year 30-per-cent road tax rebate for commercial vehicles to its drivers.
The road tax rebate works out to close to S$5 million for the company a year, or S$306 per taxi, the company’s spokesperson Tammy Tan said yesterday. “We will pass all savings to our drivers,” she added.
The company operates 16,299 of the 28,210 cabs here.
The National Taxi Association (NTA) had earlier called on operators to pass the road tax rebate for taxis to cabbies, a move which companies did in 2009 when the Government announced a similar measure. Then, all taxi operators decided to pass on the full savings to the taxi hirers, a move cabbies appreciated and welcomed.
Urging all taxi operators to again pass on the total savings from the road tax rebate to taxi hirers, NTA President Wee Boon Kim said: “The amount will help greatly in relieving some of the financial burden that comes with rising business operation cost for this group of self-employed taxi drivers. More importantly, we believe that such a gesture would be much appreciated by the taxi drivers.”
SMRT Taxis & Transport Solutions Director Tony Heng said the company, which has some 3,494 taxis on the roads here, is currently reviewing what is being offered in Budget 2013, and its impact on its business.
http://www.todayonline.com/singapore/comfortdelgro-pass-road-tax-rebate-its-cabbies