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Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, when asked if there were such plans in the Jan 22 Budget, said a firm 'no'.
He indicated this would be a blunt tool which would benefit the rich more, as the top 40 per cent of income earners here pay more than 75 per cent of the GST collected each year.
This revenue would also be lost to Government, preventing it from spending more on other help schemes, he explained.
Instead, he prefers more targeted assistance: putting money in the pockets of low- and middle-income households.
'If you cut (GST) for everyone, it means more butter for some, more cream for some. I'd rather give even more butter to those who need it the most.'
He was chairing a press conference to announce help measures for businesses and workers, during which he also outlined the shape of next year's Budget.
Budget 2009 will be focused on measures to counter the current recession as well as longer- term measures that should be put in place now to prepare Singapore for the years after it recovers from this crisis, he said.
Businesses can expect help to contain costs and raise cash flow.
Households, particularly poorer ones, will receive money to tide them over the crisis.
'The best way to help people is to give them something directly, put money in their hands, let them decide how best to use it.'
The Government will also boost the economy by increasing spending on transport infrastructure and bringing forward plans to hire more teachers and health- care professionals.
'We're not trying to pad things up because that's an artificial way of countering the recession. What we are trying to do is to accelerate plans which already existed for hiring,' he said.
All this costs money, and the Budget is expected to run 'a large deficit'. But there would be no need to dip into the reserves.
'We have accumulated surpluses over this term of government which we didn't spend entirely in this year's Budget,' he said.
The Government recently modified the rules on how it could spend from the investment returns from reserves, he noted, thus allowing more to be spent.
Mr Tharman remains optimistic. 'We think we will come out of the tunnel in good shape.'
Analysts are not surprised by Mr Tharman's comments.
'They have started this move from direct to indirect taxes and they need the revenue now more than ever to fund the help packages ahead,' said UOB economist Ho Woei Chen.
And giving cash to people is the right move, said economist Choy Keen Meng from Nanyang Technological University.
'The minister's promise that money will be directly handed out to households seems to me the right medicine for these unusual times,' he said.
'The standard prescription used in previous crises, cost-cutting, should take a back seat, as this only alleviates retrenchments at best.
'Instead, the Government should supplement direct transfers with income tax rebates for both firms and households. This way, it may get consumers to spend again, at least part of the tax savings.'
The Government recognises the need to step in with public spending to shore up the economy, noted economics professor Davin Chor from Singapore Management University.
'We can probably expect fiscal policy to remain expansionary until the world economy starts to show signs of recovery, hopefully towards the end of 2009.'
