SINGAPORE - The plan to raise the goods and services tax (GST) between next year and 2025 remains unchanged, Finance Minister Lawrence Wong told Parliament on Tuesday (Oct 5).

Speaking during the debate on the Income Tax (Amendment) Bill, he also stressed that the Government continues to "consider all options" to address income and wealth inequalities and support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Mr Wong was responding to several MPs, including Mr Yip Hon Weng (Yio Chu Kang) and Workers' Party MP Louis Chua (Sengkang GRC), who had raised concerns about the timing of the GST hike as well as the possibility of a wealth tax to address wealth inequality issues.

The minister reiterated the need to raise the Government's recurring revenues given that recurrent expenditures will continue to go up due to factors such as healthcare and social spending, adding that there is "no avoiding this".

The planned GST hike from 7 per cent to 9 per cent was announced in Budget 2018, and a $6 billion Assurance Package was announced in Budget 2020 to help cushion the impact of the hike, with more help directed at lower-income households.

"I am unable to reveal what we are thinking about now. I think that would be premature and I don't want to pre-empt the Budget next year, but obviously we are continuing to consider all options to address... No. 1, wealth and income inequalities and No. 2, what more we can do to support SMEs," he said.