GST Refund? Try Again...

Whew, I survived another trip home. This one was pretty ok actually, I had good food, good rest, and even my first DOTA session with my brothers. Could have been more peaceful though, and I did my share of kitchen chores! More on the vacation later...

While I was waiting to board my flight to Indonesia, I overheard at least 3 conversation with this theme: "Not being able to claim the GST refund because the queue was long." So, I guess I will have to advise all my overseas friend to check in at least 2 hours early if they want to claim their GST refund. On top of that, I also better notify them about the fine print (somehow, the GST listed here is still 5%), so that things like this does not happen.

Despite the claim of low tax, anything that can be taxed, will be taxed (lots of hidden cost too). The only saving grace may be that the current system is not as convoluted as the one in the US (yet?). I'm still quite befuddled about how the taxation applies to Unit Trust and Foreign Derived Income. The IRAS website seems to say that they are exempt from tax, but not in a way that is clear enough for the average tax payers.

A good way to motivate me to spend less too.
As it is now, something that is priced at $100 is actually $107. (This is what my baseline annual expenditure is at)
Add the lowest income tax bracket (3.5%), and it becomes $110.88. Why is this higher than $110.50 (7% + 3.5% = 10.5%)? Because in this case, the GST is applied on post-taxed income, which turns it into double taxation.

At 5.5% tax: $100 -- $113.23
At 8.5% tax: $100 -- $116.94

This would be what goods will cost for any income spent over the $20,000 bracket. I'm glad that I am still well within the "safety" zone.