Tackling inequality in Singapore: uplift the bottom, not tax the rich

GIVEN the long-running, wide-ranging discussions on inequality that swept Singapore last year, one might initially have been surprised at the topic's absence from this year's Budget speech.

Inequality was mentioned just twice: once among a list of long-term challenges facing Singapore, and a second time as the issue which the Workfare and Silver Support schemes seek to tackle.

Instead of discussing inequality per se, Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat spoke of the need to help those who are less advantaged, from supporting students to boosting low-wage workers' salaries.