Dear readers, GST has been increased to 8% this year, 1% higher than last year.
With effect from next year (Year 2024), GST will be increased by another 1% to 9%.
To many, the higher GST will translate into higher prices for many items. But there are ways (legit ways) to pay lower prices overall for one’s goods and services as what I am going to describe here.
First and foremost, let us not kid ourselves, for goods with a fixed price, there is no escaping higher prices with higher GST. Say for an electrical gadget that costs $100, a GST that is 1% higher means a $1 higher expenditure that the consumer must pay.
Same as with services; often services come with a fixed price tag. Unless these goods and services are really the discretionary wants of the consumers, then the consumers can walk away without these material needs and the consumer save even more through not purchasing the items altogether.
I would think where consumers can pay lower prices even with a higher GST is in the area of restaurant meals.
For example, for a restaurant meal that costs $500 including service charge, after 9% GST, the net price the customer has to pay is $545, as compared to $540 (with 8% GST).
But what if the customer forgoes a drink that costs $5 including service charge? Then, the customer will pay $539.55 nett, which is even 45 cents lower than the price that has current 8% GST retained?
In essence, given that the 9% GST will be with us, we can note that we can reduce the amount if GST we are paying by always keeping a close tab on what we spend on, especially the discretionary items.
That’s it for my insights today. I Thank you once again for your support of SG STOCKS INVESTING, your Money and Lifestyle magazine! Connect with me here to follow the daily exciting and useful posts on these two blogs, Thank You for your support!
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