Robin Hood Taxes

I once wondered why governments need to make things so complicated with complex tax systems and all that.

When the government gave out relief on GST to citizens a while ago, I thought to myself, “If you’re going to give the money back anyway, why not abolish GST in the first place?”

The answer came to me today as I studied the Singapore Budget 2012.

It’s like the Robin Hood style of stealing from the rich to give to the poor. But in this case, taxing the rich more, taxing the poor less.

And to do this, taxes are enforced for most financial transactions and then tax reliefs are given to people based on the size of their homes (rich people usually live in larger homes). Not 100% accurate but the gist of it is somewhere there.