Lip Service

Lip Service of the Month:

Housewives are worth billions

$10.2b to be exact, according to a University Don who made a considered calculation of the worth of housewives, or stay-at-home-mums, or whatever label you want to tag on them. Funny, I spend thousands a month supporting one. Where's the money?

Even government MPs spoke up for this silent group about how they have been left out of the budget goodies announced recently. Well, you and I know that if the government were to keep dishing out goodies to all and sundry, I, the taxpayer, end up paying more, right?

So I would please ask the well-meaning MPs and U Dons (sounds like Japanese noodles) to hold their horses lest they cause a stampede that will flatten us taxpayers. Of course, our PAP MPs aren't necessarily thinking about increasing the personal tax rate (never mind that it wasn't lowered a single hundredth of a percentage point), but probably milking the surpluses the government tends to run from its many creative taxes and surcharge schemes, from Cars to Roads to Death (aka Estate Duty).

Let's see if all this is idle talk. I, for one, think that it is just political lip service that has to be paid. Nothing will come of it.