PETALING JAYA: Bring back the goods and services tax (GST) to generate a source of income for the country, says Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong (pic).
In a Facebook post yesterday, the MCA president made three proposals for Budget 2024.
First, he asked for the revival of the GST.
“I have repeated many times to the government to bring back the GST. We cannot be talking about spending and expenditure (only) in the Budget without any source of income. Bring back the GST,” he said.
He said the GST, if reimplemented, could be reduced from 6% to 4%.
“We can (also) have zero rated, an exemption list and enable cash handout while improving the mechanism,” he added.
He also raised the concern from micro, small and medium enterprises, who are facing the worst effects from the imbalance cost pass-through (ICPT), which saw the electricity tariff adjustment and the increase of employees’ maternity leave from 60 to 98 days.
He called for the government to lower the ICPT, as those in the industry are suffering from higher expenses, higher cost and longer maternity leave.
“The next should be simplifying the process of hiring workers, especially for the 3D (dirty, dangerous and difficult) sector,” he said.
On his third suggestion, the Ayer Hitam MP said the individual tax exemption of RM9,000 should be increased to RM12,000 due to inflation rate.
By doing so, the M40 and T20 groups will have room to breathe, he said.
He added that if these two groups have more disposable income to spend, businesses will not suffer.
“If they spend more, it will have a multiplier effect. When a nasi lemak seller earns an additional RM100, she can buy cucumber, anchovies and other supplies.
“So, the RM100 can be multiplied to become RM1,000. This is what we want to see in terms of economic impacts on various levels of society,” he said.
Dr Wee also urged the government to refer back to the New Economic Model for Malaysia that was published in 2010 in planning for Budget 2024.
“Despite being 13 years old, the model has eight SRIs (Strategic Reform Initiatives) with clear strategic policy direction,” he said.
He said he hopes that Malaysia will prosper and emerge stronger in terms of economic growth, unlike the 2.9% growth recorded in the second quarter.
