Claims

IRAS has just declared claims you file at work to be part of your taxable income.

how stupid is that! what in the flying hell is the rationale of that?! the claims made are to reimburse expenditure incurred for your work. how is it part of one's income at all?! say my salary is $2000 a month. i have to take a cab home one day of the month because i worked till freaking 4 am. i pay $20. i claim back $20. at the end of the month, my nett income is still $2000. why the hell should i be taxed on something that i never really had in the first place?

i wonder which genius in IRAS decided that claims should be part of one's taxable income...

in other news, watched Brokeback Mountain last night. it was quite a good movie. of course, when it got to the gay parts (e.g. when they first had sex... and the 'mozerella cheese' kiss... ) i squeamed...

apart from that... i kind of enjoyed the movie. it's one of those movies that leaves me... emotionally hanging and hollow because of the poignancy of it all... the worst thing is... it's not intense in any way... emotions ooze out gently and are made even more subtle by the panaromic scenes of mountains and close up shots of streams.

sigh...