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A case of sour grapes?
I read with some dismay a recent call to impose a form of luxury tax on Singaporeans who own more than one car. To me, this is the wrong philosophy.
This is because I believe that society should be built on the concept of equality of opportunities and not equality of outcomes. Penalizing those who excel will disincentivize people from excelling. The result will be a regression towards the mean with society pushed down towards the lowest common denominator, instead of being pulled up towards new heights.
It is easy to sit back and hate the rich and be envious of what they have. But this will not change your lot in life. Instead, I believe it is more productive to look at what the rich have and get motivated to achieve the same for yourself.
Life may not be fair in terms of where we start, but life is fair in that we all have the same 24 hours in the day. It is how we use those 24 hours that separate us from the life we want from the life we have.
