Asli chairman: PH govt’s 1st budget must be different
KUALA LUMPUR: The 2019 Budget, the Pakatan Harapan government’s inaugural budget, should be different and must show the way forward while reflecting the new government’s thinking.
Asli Centre for Public Policy Studies chairman Tan Sri Ramon Navaratnam said the government’s budget strategy must be prudent and propoor, fair and equitable, and aimed at restructuring the economy with more meritocracy and competition.
“Scheduled for tabling on Nov 2, the budget must start a new ecosystem that will be fair, just and equitable to all sectors of the economy — labour, capital and the entrepreneurial class.
“Then we will have more enthusiasm for supporting the new budget strategy and higher taxation. There has to be far less corruption too, so that taxpayers feel more confident that their taxes will be spent wisely and not frittered away through corrupt and wasteful channels,” he said yesterday.
Ramon said the government had hinted that among the strategies was the introduction of new taxes, which would be unpopular among the people.
“But if the taxes are imposed on those who can afford to pay, that is, the wealthy and prosperous, and not the middle class or the poor, then I think the new taxes for the well-to-do will be welcomed and popular with the majority of Malaysians.”
He said a more progressive tax system would be deemed as fair and equitable to most as it would reduce the widening income disparities, provide more funds to pay for the nation’s debt of RM1 trillion, reduce budget deficit and help the government.
He said the government should not cut back on policies and programmes related to health, education, the environment, defence and security, and antipoverty.