Rates of GST

Here are the current rates of GST adopted in various countries:

Australia 10%
Canada 5%
Hong Kong (abandoned)
India (to be introduced in 2012, rate not decided)
New Zealand 15%
Singapore 7%
Germany 19%
Japan 7%
Sweden 25%
UK 20%

I am not able to draw any conclusion on this matter. I dislike GST and prefer the government revenue to come from income tax. But, it seemed that many countries are implementing GST.

My view: In Singapore's case, there is no need to have GST as the government collects a lot of revenue on sale of land and vehicle tax. Furthermore, welfare benefits in Singapore is quite low. We are in a similar situation as Hong Kong, which does not have GST.