Car tax adds RM7b yearly to public coffers, says Customs D-G
The Royal Malaysian Customs director-general today came out in support of maintaining car taxes, saying it added up to RM7 billion annually to the Treasury that was used to aid development projects nationwide, as controversy rages over its proposed abolition.
“About RM6 billion to RM7 billion are collected annually just from vehicle’s excise duty. Imagine how many schools and hospitals we can build with that amount of money,” Datuk Khazali Ahmad was reported as saying by English-language daily The Star today.
“This money is used for the country’s various sectors such as education, health and social development,” he was quoted further.
The civil servant had sought to appear impartial when commenting on Pakatan Rakyat (PR)’s electoral pledge to slash excise duties and reduce the triple-tax burden imposed on cars if it takes over Putrajaya in the upcoming general election.
But his remark suggested a leaning towards the establishment’s reasons for imposing car excise duties that result in Malaysians having to fork out hundreds of thousands in ringgit for foreign-made cars, nearly as much as — and often more than— it costs to own a home.
“That is their political opinion though and I cannot comment on it,” Khazali was reported saying.
Malaysians pay inordinately prices for cars mainly because of the protection afforded to national carmaker Proton since 1984.
Car buyers must pay import and excise duties as well as sales taxes that translate into some of the highest car prices in the region.
Excise duties, which form the bulk of car taxes, are imposed on foreign-made and local-made cars alike.
A recent income survey found that a household earning RM3,000 a month could spend up to 50 per cent of its income on maintaining a car.
A cut in car duties — which currently run as high as 105 per cent — could help stimulate the economy by boosting disposable income and reducing household debt burden, analysts have also told ...
The high taxes now have resulted in about 20 per cent of the RM581 billion total household debt in the country last year being held in cars, an asset that depreciates over time.
comments
En Khazali,
You are just a civil servant paid by the public, so make sure you collect EVERY SEN that is due to the govt. The RM 1 trillion illicit outflow over the last decade alone clearly shows you and your dept HAVE NOT done your job diligently. You are not the policy maker. If the people choose to elect a govt that wishes to abolish the excise duty as demanded by the people it is actually NONE of your business. If you aspire to be a law maker, just resign and stand as a candidate.
This Khazali bloke thinks he is in charge of disbursement of government funds & mentioned that the RM7 billion can be used to built schools & hospitals. He can't be sure where the fund goes & should be responsible to his remarks. If he had kept quiet, nobody is going to say that he is dumb! His statement is also leaning towards BN & he should be impartial on what PR intends to do. He should be removed if PR takes over Putrajaya as he is just a lapdog to BN. He doesn't know economics in taxes & disposable income & funny he's appointed as Customs DG. Empty tin!
It does not seem right that Malaysia tax payers have been subsidizing Proton for over 3 decades with no end in sight, and are rewarded with the most expensive car price tags and yet more taxes. Proton is an expensive ego trip by some past minister and a mistake.
RM7 billion is a whopping amount of money and Khazali Ahmad thought he is clever when he said it is used to build this and that.
Khazali Ahmad, do you know the effect of car taxes on owners and the whole economy? You seems to think that reduced car taxes will have a very adverse impact on the finance of the country. You are a typical civil servants, who cannot think beyond what is in front of you.
The savings of reduce car prices will allow owners to spend on other things and will add to the economy substantially. Besides, with more car sales, petrol tax, better economy from increased disposal income, the government will end up earning more in connection with the redu8ce car taxes.
Herein lies the difference between Pakatan people and UMNO/BN leadership.
Listen Datuk Khazali. We are not disputing the amount collected & used to build schools & hospitals . However how much of the money is siphoned off to cronies as commission. So if RM7 billion collected and say RM2billion goes into pockets whats left for us. This is our bone of contention. We want to bring in a new govt because of all the commission paid from our tax money. Remember ths submarine buy and comission paid. I can go on and name many more
No comments:
Post a Comment