Instead of overcomplicating COE system, government has ensured affordable transport for all: SM Lee to Jamus Lim
Instead, the government has ensured that everyone has access to affordable and efficient transport, even if they do not own a car, he added. And those who need more assistance, such as families with young children, are helped directly, such as through grants which can go towards paying for a COE.
SM Lee was responding to a Facebook post by Workers' Party MP Jamus Lim (Sengkang GRC), who said that the COE bidding system does not account for those who may genuinely need to own a car.
Associate Professor Lim added in his Jul 16 post that relying on market forces may not be the best way to adjudicate between the competing needs of different groups.
He was commenting on what SM Lee said at a dialogue on Jul 15 at the Economic Society of Singapore's (ESS) annual dinner.
ESS president Euston Quah, who was moderating the dialogue, had asked SM Lee about calls to let some groups pay less for COEs.
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Responding, SM Lee said there were many 'good arguments' for why certain groups are more deserving of a car.
However, it would be very difficult for the government to design a COE system that takes into account how many children people have, whether they have a disabled family member or old folks at home, and whether their jobs require them to move around, among other things, he added.
'I think if you want to design a scheme that worries about all those things, it will fail,' he said at the dialogue.
There is no fair and easy way to distribute something valuable like road space while making it very cheap, he added.
What the COE system does is to act as a proxy for road space, price this scarce resource at fair market value, then allocate it using economic principles, he explained.
Referring to these comments, Prof Lim, who was also at the ESS dinner, said what is 'sorely missing' in such a system is how those with genuine needs may not be able to afford a car, even if their needs have more merit.
He added that having 'every aspect of their lives determined in a transactional way' is not how humans wish to live.
'Society has values – about compassion, equity, respect and loyalty – that are poorly valued by impersonal markets. It's why we teach our children to share, why we don't charge an hourly rate for time we spend with our kids, why we don't think twice about breaking the bank when our parents fall (ill), and why we devote so much of our energies to causes that we believe in,' he said.
'That's why, for all our economic successes, there are ways that Singapore Inc operates that rub many people the wrong way.'
At the dialogue, SM Lee said that the government can guarantee every Singaporean affordable, convenient transportation, but cannot guarantee that everyone can have an affordable car.
He added that for those who have a special need, it is better for the government to help directly, rather than give them cheaper COEs. For instance, families with young children get bigger baby bonuses, which they can use to defray the cost of a car.
'Directly help the group you need to help in cash, rather than make complicated schemes, which then end up with all kinds of contradictions and wrong incentives,' added SM Lee.
Prof Lim, who teaches economics at Essec Business School, said in his post that the bottom line for him is that people are 'not mindless slaves to the prevailing structures and institutions' and can actively shape the future they want.
'If we want to head in a different direction, towards a more empathetic and just economy and society, then it is on us to seize that vision and make it real,' he added.
In his Facebook comment, SM Lee said: 'Therefore, where we disagree is not over who cares more for our fellow Singaporeans, but what is the best way to meet people's needs and take care of them.' THE STRAITS TIMES
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