Tuesday 2 September 2008

A caring budget... for who?

“Any goodies for me?”

Almost all my colleagues posed me that question last Friday and I am sure that was the first thing that came to mind for most of you as soon as you mentioned about the National Budget 2009 tabled in parliament last Friday.

The answer is yes… terms and conditions apply.

First, if you are rich, you get to taste a little bit of sweets as the highest rate for individual income tax reduced from 28% to 27%. For you to enjoy this, you should be earning about RM280,000 and above in a year. Are you one of them?

There is also a drop of marginal tax rate of 13% to 12%. This is for those who earns between RM35,000 to RM50,000 a year. If you’re lucky to fall within the RM35,000 chargeable income, you get an additional RM50 rebate. This RM50 together with the 1% decrease should give you additional money of circa RM500 a year to spend. Are you one of them?

Frankly speaking, those are the 2 prominent goodies for individuals. So unless you’re earning above RM280,000 a year or between RM35,000 and RM50,000 a year, there isn’t much. The rest are just crap not very relevant.

Of course, a lot of us are pretty excited about tens of billions of ringgit allocated to improve the public transport system. That’s a lot of money allocated… but won’t you wonder how much will actually… I mean actually be used… as in actually… aiyah, you know what I mean.

Now, allow me to just divert your attention to goodies given to companies. I know… I know… they don’t concern you but just read for information sake… can or not?

There are a lot of goodies given to bus companies. Toll reduction… road tax reduction… not bad really. But I wonder, who is the owner of bus operators in town?

Let me ask you a question… if you want to encourage tourists to buy nasi lemak, do you exempt the nasi lemak seller from paying tax or exempt the tourists from paying tax (say service tax)? In a move to apparently encourage foreign companies to list in Bursa, the company that provides advisory services to the foreigner will get tax exemption. It didn’t really make sense to me until one of my friend asked me… “who owns one of the biggest corporate advisory firm in town?” I dunno lah… which one ah?

There is one I like best, and I am sure most if not all of you are also drooling over the proposal. I am talking about the 100% exemption on import duty and 50% exemption on excise duty on hybrid cars. Will take make the Honda Civic Hybrid sells like hot bread? I am definitely going to get one. But then I am also wondering, who will be getting the AP for it… hmmm….

Last but not least, do you know how much money will be spent to develop Sabah and Sarawak? Billions and billions ringgit! Makes me wonder why…

32 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wah... am I first? am I first?

(Speechless for being first)

CV said...

Billions and billions will be allocated for Sabah and Sarawak's development, yet there are practically no visible changes so far.

The locals said that federal government had promised them this and that for a long time but all those are nothing but empty promises. I wonder, exactly how much from the billions are going to be used for development. 30% at most?

Anonymous said...

Okay, got something to say now... The hybrid "incentive" is only for about a couple of years, I think... or at least until Proton comes up with an run-on-flood-water vehicle (ROF).

Till then, remains one of those things they'll pull right from under ya before your kid becomes a toddler.

day-dreamer said...

I also wonder how much $ exactly reaches the place it should reach. :D

myop101 said...

dear zewt,

i disagree. i think it is not RM500 reduction. You must remember it is afterall a tiered tax regime so....

if the gap where 13% was applied is not 12%, it would only amount to...

RM5,000 x 1% = RM50

I might be wrong, do let me know though.

Andrew said...

i wanna earn 280,000 can??? LOL =D one fine day!! helo zewt kor kor!! how are you ??? bila yum cha??

mh said...

same sentiments shared. also looks like a knee-jerk reaction. $$ is apparently allocated to regions where loyalty to the present administration matters most (for the time being). not that it is a bad thing but whether this move is merely lip service or whether the budget will really be spent in such a way to benefit the masses in those areas (as opposed to a select few), remain to be seen.

Anonymous said...

Cigarette price increase....Bwahuhuhuhuhuhuhu!!!! Sob!! Sob!!!

Ivan said...

Well...it's like giving out lots of "millions" and "billions", but without the supposed benefits that should come along with it - at least I don't think I'm getting anything out of this budget in the short term. And by the time anything (if any) gets going (think public transport), we would already be at the next budget.

Honestly, the happiest folks in town would be the government servants - current and retired. So in short, I feel that this budget is all about keeping "their" voters happy. The rest...assume lost and are left to fend for ourselves.

missX said...

My, my, I also dunno for who... :/

Huei said...

wahahahh who did the east msians vote for ar? hmm

improve public transport? HAHAHAHAHHA slow slow wait la..waiting..been waiting for YEARS...n many more YEARS to come!

wtf! my income way below those range lor!! T_T

Anonymous said...

Too little, too late...

U-Jean said...

"Last but not least, do you know how much money will be spent to develop Sabah and Sarawak? Billions and billions ringgit! Makes me wonder why…"

So we can log more forest to make toothpicks.

I don't see any allocations for poor students like me...

Purple~MushRooM said...

I would love to see the improvements on our public transport. Just wait and see.. maybe until my neck long also can't see any improvements.

Anonymous said...

a caring budget for those.....

who are on the verge of defecting...

Jorji said...

the national budget is not for me.
not one item.
bajet penyayang my ass!
terus kene membajetkan duit setiap bulan ada la!

Anonymous said...

Its a negative budget! Give give give... Then its tax tax tax to cover the give give give hole they dug.

Its just a budget that they hope will boost their popularity. Will that work? Don't think it'll work very well! We're fed-up!

khengsiong said...

I thought the tax exemption for hybrid cars is only for locally assembled models? If that is the case Honda Civic Hybrid is not qualified.

huntressmoon said...

Khengsiong,

You are correct. To bring the parts from Japan to Malaysia is very costly, plus it is still 200% tax after it has been locally assembled. Can you imagine how the cost will be tripled if they do.
Plus, they don't have much workers to handle the production. Poor peeps have to work for mandatory overtime.

doc said...

all i'm concerned about are the words from the horse's (Mahathir) mouth - 90% of income taxes are paid by non-malays.

no matter, give to Ceasar what belongs to him.

sharlydia said...

Ofcoz billions & ringgit to sabah & sarawak lar, that will make the pple there happy & then continue to support & vote for BN mar!!! If not Sabah & Sarawak, I dont think our PM today is still this old man lor!!!

Anonymous said...

Hahah.. Sharlydia is funny! haha!

Yeah.. you are right.. there is always something behind the budget being announced.. yeah. I don't feel any difference also.

Instead of spending billions and billions to develop east malaysia.. they can't even spend more money on crime prevention. I know.. there is a budget to increase the police force.. but will they work more efficiently thereafter? The crime rate is escalating faster than the budget being given out.

Anonymous said...

again..i see the goody bags offered are for the rich..to endow the rich with more richess..

another bn tactic

Anonymous said...

billions to cater for sabah n sarawak..but whose pocket shall it fell into, i wonder..

zewt said...

taxy driver - no prizes for being the first. hybrid...with the flip flop culture, who knows?

noble - just like johor, the iskandar dunno what what development. go to johor, u will also see nothing.

day-dreamer - 10%?

myop101 - based on clarification, it's RM150. cos it's 1% on the marginal increase... from your 30,001st buck till your 50,000th buck.

Andrew - eh, i still have your sunnies with me lah. i was in football session 2 weeks ago.

mh - yes, loyalty is the key now. the administration is really concentrating on retaining power... that is why i wodner if it's a decoy.

suituapui - good lah! smoke less is good.

zewt said...

Ivan - strange though, the population there is not very big. i wonder if they are 'doubled' in the 'registry', know what i mean?

Just Jasmine - no need to guess so far :)

huei - work harder, i am also working towards those income :)

life for beginners - definitely, for us.

u-jean - maybe you are just not poor enough.... or not the right kinda poor people.

purple mushroom - i think it's just another... bollocks.

Ulquiorra - bullseye.

zewt said...

j or ji - hahaha... the bajet makes u bajet your salary... hahahaha....

pinknpurplelizard - it's too late, like what life for beginnersa said.

khengsiong - need to check on that but i think it includes imported.

huntressmoon - hmmm... good point. looks like we are screwed again.

doc - aiyah... those kinda info.. u know i know lah... sam jiu lah.

sharlydia - might be futile still though.

gina - police... sigh.

ngy - all go to the rich... the rich just get more.

myop101 said...

sigh...

so i can finally get my second 16G thumbdrive with that tax reduction.

waah...i should be cheering...

zzzzzzz.....

Huei said...

i just got a rm800 pay cut! hahahah

but different field..wut to do..wana change job scope must sacrify abit >.<

*work very hard*

zewt said...

myop101 - but how much will u save?

huei - woooaaahhh... 800 bucks pay cut is quite a big cut. it's a really BIG cut.... you hav got guts!

LynMay said...

Income tax reduction - No difference for me as I fall in between the 2 groups.. so I've been a good citizen, paying my income tax without fail yearly now Mr Ahmad not only says I'm a squatter. Last night he said: "I want to appeal to the Chinese not to become like the Jewish in America. It is not enough they control the economy, now they want political control." - Wow...

Public transportation in Penang is already shit crap and flawed as it is. Allocating billions with poor implementation won't help. What we need is a miracle. Also, we know for sure that whatever allocation is given, how much will actually be USED and where will the balance of the funds go to considering the abang-adik business?

Rebate for electricity bills < RM20 - Ok, I need to throw away my aircon, PC, fridge,iron, hairdryer, TV set, microwave oven, lamps and buy torch light or candles.. or move out to the rural area...

Cheaper imported biscuits and canned sweet corns - should i eat these as my daily staple until the next budget?

Cheaper electronic goods - who the hell invests in these for savings?

Why is it that I feel I am being treated like a 7-year old by the government...

zewt said...

LynMay - when it was first announced, it sounds sweet to the ears but when one sits down and analyses it properly, it's all just shitty eh? that's the malaysian way of doing things...