There have been calls for a fairer system of tax in Singapore, and the issue of a wealth tax continues to be raised. The jurisdiction's government appears unconvinced of its merits.

Singapore’s finance minister Lawrence Wong appeared to have pushed back against the idea of a wealth tax when questioned about tax changes by the financial services sector in the Asian jurisdiction.

When considering tax changes,the government needs to understand that wealth is mobile and can be moved rapidly, the Straits Times of Singapore noted in its interview with Wong.

"And so, if you're not careful, you [could] have a tax in place that doesn't actually end up collecting very much money, [and] it's counterproductive because the wealth just moves around to other places," Wong was quoted as saying, in acknowledging the possible risks and impact of tax changes on the country's financial services industry.

Wong was replying to a question on potential wealth taxes in Singapore at a Morgan Stanley conference. He said that Singapore's approach to wealth taxes is not to focus narrowly on the concept of taxes based on a person's net wealth, but to look at it through the country's overall taxation system.

"It's within that broad context that we will continue to review, to see what additional [measures] we can do to strengthen our system of taxation so that we can generate revenue but do so in a way that is fair and progressive," Wong said.

The idea of wealth taxes has been advocated in a number of countries in recent years, despite criticism of how such taxes can be difficult and costly to collect, and damage investment - and ultimately living standards - over the long term. Supporters say that the widening of wealth holdings in many countries, aggravated by central bank money printing, requires measures to ensure a more equitable distribution of wealth. 

As reported more than a week ago, Singapore will continue to review wealth taxes, Second Minister for Finance Indranee Rajah is reported as having said. She said the question has never been one of whether the country wants to tax wealth, but the practical concern has been how to do so effectively so that such taxes cannot be avoided easily. Indranee was replying to Workers' Party MP Jamus Lim [Sengkang GRC], who had filed a motion on taxation.