The government has decided to revise the development charge (DC) rates, with the steepest increase targeting the commercial and industrial sectors.
Four sectors in the industrial segment will see hefty increases of between 14 and 26 per cent. Woodlands, Senoko, Sembawang, and Yishun sectors will be slapped with the stiff 26 per cent. For the commercial sector, the average increase will be 24 per cent, with Yishun, Sembawang, Woodlands, Choa Chu Kang and Jurong West hiked highest at 39 per cent. Unlike the wages, there's not co-payment for these charges. The employers are in for a rough ride.
By contrast, the levy for landed homes will increase only by an average of 4 per cent in some areas, with the largest increase of 15 per cent for properties in Tanjong Katong, Joo Chiat, Telok Kurau, Upper East Coast, Siglap, Bedok and Marine Parade.
Analysts attribute the relatively smaller increase in the residential segment to the government's wait-and-see approach. But what are they waiting to see? Either the cooling measures are to meant to cool the residential market or they are not.
There was a report last weekend about 44 percent of high-end non-landed properties under construction being still unsold. Besides these 4,077 units, 500 completed homes in the red hot zones of districts 9,10 and 11, where the really rich people congregate, are also left high and dry. These are the guys who moan loudly about having to pay $300,000 more for their Ferrari F12 because of the new car taxes.
The folks in charge can't back pedal this time if the Gini coefficient is to be addressed. You can't pretend to help the poor while throwing out lifelines to the wealthy. Money is a zero sum game, you primp one group, you destitute the other. Like a festering boil, the bubble has to be pricked before the suppurating wound infects the rest.
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Four sectors in the industrial segment will see hefty increases of between 14 and 26 per cent. Woodlands, Senoko, Sembawang, and Yishun sectors will be slapped with the stiff 26 per cent. For the commercial sector, the average increase will be 24 per cent, with Yishun, Sembawang, Woodlands, Choa Chu Kang and Jurong West hiked highest at 39 per cent. Unlike the wages, there's not co-payment for these charges. The employers are in for a rough ride.
By contrast, the levy for landed homes will increase only by an average of 4 per cent in some areas, with the largest increase of 15 per cent for properties in Tanjong Katong, Joo Chiat, Telok Kurau, Upper East Coast, Siglap, Bedok and Marine Parade.
Analysts attribute the relatively smaller increase in the residential segment to the government's wait-and-see approach. But what are they waiting to see? Either the cooling measures are to meant to cool the residential market or they are not.
There was a report last weekend about 44 percent of high-end non-landed properties under construction being still unsold. Besides these 4,077 units, 500 completed homes in the red hot zones of districts 9,10 and 11, where the really rich people congregate, are also left high and dry. These are the guys who moan loudly about having to pay $300,000 more for their Ferrari F12 because of the new car taxes.
The folks in charge can't back pedal this time if the Gini coefficient is to be addressed. You can't pretend to help the poor while throwing out lifelines to the wealthy. Money is a zero sum game, you primp one group, you destitute the other. Like a festering boil, the bubble has to be pricked before the suppurating wound infects the rest.
