Legal System In Singapore

Professor Doria

Country Background
Singapore is a country located southeast of Asia. The official name is the Republic of Singapore. It is constituted of 63 islands, but the main land is known as Pulau Ujong. Surrounding countries are Thailand, Malaysia, Burma, Vietnam and Indonesia. The total area is about 716 kilometers square or 276 square miles. It is ranked the 190th in terms of area, out of 249 sovereign states measured. By the year 2013, a population of almost 5.4 million people, and the population density is about 7500 people per Kilometer Square. (4). Singapore has a parliamentary system, and is ranked highly in the best democracies in the world. The prime minister and the president head the executive, which also constitutes the cabinet. The legislature is served by the parliament, which has elected and nominated members. The incumbent president of Singapore is Tony Tan Keng Yam, who has occupied office since first September 2011. The incumbent Prime Minister is Lee Hsein Loong, who has been in office since 14th August 2004 (1). The ruling political party is the People’s Action Party, which has been in power since 1959. The English common law system is the basis of the country’s legal system. There are aspects of law that are judge made while others are constitutional. The Singapore economic system is free market economy and capitalist. According to the World Bank in 2011, Singapore GNI per capita was measured at 59790. Singapore has many natural resources, hence their resources are categorized as no renewable, renewable and water based resources. These include fish and ports. Singapore’s primary exports are commodities such as machinery and equipment, electronics, pharmaceuticals, mineral fuels and consumer goods. Their main export partners are Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, China, U.S and Malaysia. Their imports are Machinery and equipment, mineral fuels, foodstuffs, chemicals and consumer goods. The main import partners are China, US, Malaysia, Indonesia and Japan (1). Singapore is a member state of the Association of Southeast Asia Nations (ASEAN) economy integration organization. Singapore uses Singapore Dollar currency, which is freely exchanged. One Singapore dollar is equivalent to 0.79 U.S dollars.
Business Proposition
As per the above overview, Singapore has a strong economy, which is growing per the day. The country’s business environment is friendly and accommodating to many business opportunities. It has a good economic policy that is necessary for business to thrive. As a result of the capitalist economy, investors are welcome to put their money into various investments, while assuring economic freedom and security by the government. Corruption in Singapore is very minimal, as compared to some countries in the region. It is a good opportunity for U.S companies to invest in Singapore because it provides low personal and corporate tax rates, it is politically stable and it is the third most globalized economy.

Low Personal and Corporate Tax Rates
For a business to grow well there is need to have reasonable personal and corporate tax rates. Singapore has low corporate tax rates. Other developed countries, especially the west, have relatively high tax rates (5). In addition to this, there is a friendly tax rate for high earners corporatize their businesses. The country has attractive and effective corporate tax rates, which means that companies will be making profits and investing even more revenue in expanding their businesses. There are many companies in the United States that can open up businesses in Singapore and gain from this advantage. Considering that Singapore has robust shipbuilding, infrastructure, machinery and textile industries, there are many openings for relevant companies to invest in the Singapore market. Additionally, there are common tax reliefs for Singapore companies. One of these is the startup tax exemption (SUTE) scheme, which is a tax exemption for new startup

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