Press
Statement by Lim Guan Eng in Petaling Jaya on Monday, 1st September 2008:
Is giving RM 36 per year in tax benefits to more than 10 million working
Malaysians helpful in fighting inflation and reducing the rakyat’s
financial burden?
Prime
Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s populist 2009 budget is
actually a poor attempt at copy-cat budget from the Pakatan Rakyat’s
economic programme to reduce the financial burden of rising prices on
Malaysians and assist the poor. Despite claiming that the 2009 budget
would increase disposable income to middle-income earners, the 2009
budget would only collect RM 364.2 million less in taxes. According to
the Finance Ministry’s own estimates, instead of RM 176,220 million in
revenues in 2009, the government will collect RM 175,855.4 million from
the various tax rebates and deductions.
Collecting RM
364.2 million less is insignificant when distributed amongst the more
than 10 million working Malaysians, which works out to an average of RM
36 per person per year. In other words it is less than RM 3 a month or
only 10 cents per day. Would giving tax benefit of 10 cents a day help
to fight inflation and reduce the financial burden of ordinary
Malaysians?
DAP proposes
that the government distributes the RM 107 billion in annual profits
earned by Petronas to ordinary Malaysians by giving a RM 6,000 yearly
oil bonus to all working Malaysian families earning less than RM 6,000 a
month. This will only cost the government less than RM 35 billion, which
is less than one third the annual profits of Petronas. This is better
than giving tax benefits of only RM 36 per working Malaysian per year.
Despite
spending more than RM 2.1 billion in social programme for the 2009
budget, the failure to eradicate hard-core poverty amongst 38,400
households now raises questions about its effectiveness, competency,
accountability and transparency
DAP questions
the BN government’s failure to eradicate hard-core poverty amongst
38,400 households now but only in 2010 despite spending more than RM 2.1
billion in social programmes for the 2009 annual budget. This raises
questions about its effectiveness, competency, accountability and
transparency in its anti-poverty programmes such as:
• RM 500
million for increase in welfare assistance by increasing the
eligibility criteria from a monthly household income of RM 400 to RM
720 for Peninsular Malaysia, RM 830 for Sarawak and RM 960 for Sabah
benefiting 110,000 households instead of the previous 54,000
households.
•
Increasing monthly pension payments to RM 720 per month costing an
additional RM 140 million in 2009 and benefiting 75,000 retirees.
• Special
fund of RM 25 million special disaster relief fund;
•
Enhancing income programmes of RM 220 million in Peninsular Malaysia
and Sarawak.
• RM 50
million to build 1,400 new homes and repair 1,000 homes for the
hardcore poor.
• RM 580
million for Sabah and RM 420 million for Sarawak to improve basic
amenities such as electricity, water and rural roads.
•
Exempting household with electricity bills less than RM 20 per month
costing RM 170 million for 2009 and benefiting 1.1 million
households.
Why is it
that after spending RM 2.1 billion, Malaysia still can not wipe out
hard-core poverty in 2009. DAP is willing to support the Federal
government spending another RM 2.1 billion to wipe out hard-core
poverty. Hard-core poverty is defined as those families with a household
income of less than RM 400.
What type of
caring society are we, if the government can accept that there are still
families earning less than RM 400 a month? DAP considers it both
irresponsible and unacceptable that the government refuses to spend more
money to wipe out hard-core poverty when it can afford to do so.
For this
reason the Pakatan Rakyat government in Penang is determined to do in
one single year, what BN failed or refuses to do in 50 years, that is to
wipe out hard-core poverty by early 2009.
DAP urges the
BN government to adopt the CAT philosophy of governance based on
competency, accountability and transparency that can prevent corruption
and ensure that the nation’s wealth are shared equitably with the
rakyat.
*
Lim Guan Eng, Penang Chief
Minister Penang & DAP
Secretary-General