Chart of the Day: This graph shows why stiffer labour measures are looming

Expect tweaks to income taxes too.

According to CIMB, in the tradition of recent budgets, Budget 2014 could be just as household-centric, with further assistance for less-well-off families, older Singaporeans, pensioners and households in general to help them cope with higher costs of living. 

For companies, especially SMEs, the government is likely to stick to its familiar carrot-and-stick modus operandi, perhaps with more carrots to address Singapore’s productivity challenges.

Here's more from CIMB:

There may also be more tweaks to income and asset taxes to push for a greater redistribution of wealth.

And with the property market only starting to stabilise, it may be too early to hope for a relaxation of property measures.

Last year, wealthier households were made to bear part of the cost of economic restructuring via higher asset taxes, even as Singapore strives to become a more inclusive and caring society.

While there is speculation that the top income tax rates could be raised again to help fund increased spending, we reckon that the government may prefer to tweak the chargeable income for the various tax brackets to avoid a loss of competitiveness.