Analysis Of Tax Policy Options For Singapore: A General Equilibrium Approach

This thesis analyzes tax policy options for Singapore. The first three substantive chapters evaluate the efficiency and distributive impacts of various tax alternatives using a static numerical general equilibrium model. One notable difference of this study from major general equilibrium tax studies for other countries is that instead of using the arithmetic sum of the Compensating and/or Equivalent variations across households, welfare impacts are evaluated using the concept of potential welfare gain/loss, based on Kaldor\u27s (1939) weak compensation principle. The cost of tax distortions is sensitive to the criteria used to evaluate efficiency. To analyze the general equilibrium impacts of mandatory savings, a feature of special importance in Singapore, the static model is extended to incorporate endogenous saving behaviour.;Another distinguishing feature of this study which differentiates it from others is its special emphasis on the effects of alternative tax systems on the performance of the traded sector. The interaction between tax policy and trade structure is particularly important for a country with a large volume of trade, like Singapore. The analysis of this issue in chapter 4 is a novel contribution, because traditional tax policy analysis does not examine trade impact but mainly studies the efficiency and distributive effects of taxes and the effects of taxes on variables such as output or primary factor allocations. This thesis attempts to empirically study the general equilibrium interaction of tax policy and trade structure.;Finally, chapter 5 presents a theoretical framework to examine the tax treatment of financial intermediary services. The question of whether to include banking services in the tax base has received little attention from academic economists. A priori, it seems straight-forward that (if leisure is exogenous), for a broadly-based consumption tax, all goods and services, including banking services, should be included in the tax base. Numerical simulation results suggest that, in equal yield comparisons, a tax on goods alone but not on banking intermediation services is preferable to a broader tax including financial services. While not proving that banks should not be taxed, these results challenge the conventional wisdom that they should be included in the tax base

Medical Savings Accounts in Singapore: How much is adequate?

While many studies have examined the cost-containment aspect of Medical savings accounts (MSA), few have investigated the adequacy of MSA to finance the health care expenditure. This paper estimates the present value of lifetime healthcare expenses (PVHE) of the Singaporean male and female elderly upon retirement at age 62. The estimation involves calibrating the stream of future healthcare expenditure; stochastic forecasting of cohort survival probabilities; and discounting the projected lifetime healthcare expenditure. Estimated values of the PVHE under various scenarios are used to assess the adequacy of the government-decreed minimum saving to be maintained in the MSA.medical savings accounts, present value of lifetime health care expense, cohort survival probabilities

Monetizing Housing Equity to Generate Retirement Incomes

The public housing program and the unique way of financing housing through the mandatory savings system in Singapore have created a class of homeowners. This paper compares the instruments available to different flat owners to monetize their assets, including the Lease Buyback Scheme (LBS), subletting, downsizing and reverse mortgage. We estimate the present value of retirement incomes derived from these options by incorporating the survival probability which is forecasted using the Lee-Carter demographic model. We compare the monthly payouts that can be unlocked and discuss the tradeoffs of adequate retirement with the elderly preference for leaving a bequest and ageing in place. Our results show that LBS is the most attractive option. It allows the elderly to age-inplace while generating a steady stream of monthly drawdown and possibility of leaving a bequest. Subletting releases housing equity while retaining the asset. This helps the elderly to fulfill their bequest motive. Reverse mortgage is the least attractive option, yielding the lowest retirement income due to high loading factors.

Ownership and Use Taxes as Congestion Correcting Instruments

In countries, such as Singapore, that have implemented vehicle congestion policies, recent years have seen a shift towards motor vehicle taxes based on car use. Ownership taxes reduce the number of cars on the road, leaving the price per trip largely unaffected. Use taxes such as fuel taxes and road use charges decrease the price of trips without necessarily penalising vehicle ownership per se. This paper presents a simple general equilibrium model involving trips from residential areas to a central business district, along with modal choice between cars and public transit. Car trips involve fixed costs but have lower variable costs per trip (including convenience costs) then bus trips. Using a calibrated numerical model, we investigate the relative merits of ownership and use taxes. We compare full internalisation of congestion externalities to optimal tax outcomes for the different tax types. In our framework, use taxes restore Pareto optimality since congestion damage rises with more trips. Ownership taxes only partially internalise congestion externalities. However, in terms of revenue-raising ability, the marginal excess burdens of ownership taxes in the neighbourhood of optimal taxes are typically lower than use taxes. This is because marginal increases in ownership taxes take away part of the surplus accruing to consumers who still choose to travel by car, and thus have less distortion at the margin.

Hydrothermal synthesis of magnetite nanoparticles as MRI contrast agents

Magnetite (Fe3O4) nanoparticles prepared using hydrothermal approach were employed to study their potential application as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agent. The hydrothermal process involves precursors FeCl2·4H2O and FeCl3 with NaOH as reducing agent to initiate the precipitation of Fe3O4, followed by hydrothermal treatment to produce nano-sized Fe3O4. Chitosan (CTS) was coated onto the surface of the as-prepared Fe3O4 nanoparticles to enhance its stability and biocompatible properties. The size distribution of the obtained Fe3O4 nanoparticles was examined using transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The cubic inverse spinel structure of Fe3O4 nanoparticles was confirmed by X-ray diffraction technique (XRD). Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrum indicated the presence of the chitosan on the surface of the Fe3O4 nanoparticles. The superparamagnetic behaviour of the produced Fe3O4 nanoparticles at room temperature was elucidated using a vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM). From the result of custom made phantom study of magnetic resonance (MR) imaging, coated Fe3O4 nanoparticles have been proved to be a promising contrast enhanced agent in MR imaging

Hydrothermal preparation of high saturation magnetization and coercivity cobalt ferrite nanocrystals without subsequent calcination

In this work, CoFe2O4 nanocrystals with high saturation magnetization (Ms) and high coercivity (Hc) have been fabricated via a simple hydrothermal method and without subsequent calcination. The resulting CoFe2O4 nanocrystals are characterized by X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry, differential scanning calorimetry and vibrating sample magnetometry. The results indicate that CoFe2O4 nanocrystals are single crystal and the average crystallite size is increasing with the hydrothermal temperature. The electron micrographs show that the nanocrystals are well-dispersed and possess uniform size. The shape of CoFe2O4 nanocrystals is transformed from spherical into rod by increasing the hydrothermal temperature. The nanocrystals show relatively high Ms of 74.8 emu g−1 and Hc of 2216 Oe, as compared to previous reported results. The obtained results reveal the applicability of this method for efficiently producing well crystallized and relatively high magnetic properties CoFe2O4 nanocrystals as compared to other methods. More importantly, it does not require further calcination processes

Disability and Long-Term Care in Singapore

10.1093/geroni/igaa057Innovation in AgingVolume 4S1705-705United State