NO NEW TAXES, HIKES
Govt will focus on mitigating people’s cost of living, raising revenues, says minister
SECOND Finance Minister Datuk Seri Johari Abdul Ghani says the government is unlikely to increase or introduce new taxes. This is among the measures by the government to help the rakyat cope with the rising cost of living as part of 2018 Budget, which will be announced next month.
THE government is not likely to increase or introduce new taxes in the upcoming 2018 Budget, said Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Johari Abdul Ghani.
“The government has no plans to tax the people further.
“Cukuplah buat masa ini (enough of what we have now). We know that the people are under a lot of pressure.
“Therefore, I believe that in this budget, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, as always, will be looking into how the government can help the people to mitigate the cost of living.
“At the same time, the government will be looking into increasing revenue as well,” he said after the launch of the GetCover app here yesterday.
Johari was commenting on whether there would be better allocations, especially for the Bottom 40 (B40) income group, in the 2018 Budget, judging from the stabilised global crude oil prices.
The 2018 Budget is scheduled to be tabled on Oct 27.
Johari said any increase (in the budget) depended on the country’s revenue.
“When the crude oil prices go up by US$1 (RM4.22) per barrel, the government’s revenue will go up by approximately RM300 million.
“If the average oil price increase this year reaches US$57, we will have an extra income of around RM900 million.
“(And) looking at the country’s economic growth, which stood at 5.6 and 5.8 per cent in the first and second quarter of the year respectively, a total trade of RM1.5 trillion and gross domestic product of RM1.2 trillion, our fundamentals are good for the economy.”
However, Johari said, there were other external factors that the government had to take into consideration.
“We have to be careful, especially of the geopolitical tension in North Korea, which will create a lot of uncertainty for the economy, particularly in our region,” he said.
On the GetCover app, Johari said it would allow consumers to purchase motor insurance through easy and secure transactions.
“GetCover will be an ideal solution as its comparison tools will allow consumers to make more informed decisions on the palm of their hands.
“GetCover comes at the time of the motor insurance detariffication, where the liberalisation of motor insurance premiums will be based on a list of risk factors.”
Earlier, Johari said the government had always been supportive of financial and insurance technologies through the allocation of grants under various agencies.
“These include the Angel Tax Incentive, CIP500, Cradle Seed Ventures, Business Start-up Fun and Business Growth Fund.”
GetCover chief marketing officer Mark Tan said rather than going through the tedious process of comparing prices, the app filled the gap by providing consumers with the comparison tool at their fingertips.
“It is fast because it requires minimal data entry as GetCover is linked to the Insurance Services Malaysia and Road Transport Department systems.”
The GetCover app is available for free and can be downloaded via the App Store or Google Play.