{"id":3435,"date":"2012-08-07T02:03:49","date_gmt":"2012-08-06T18:03:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nbc.com.my\/blog\/?p=3435"},"modified":"2024-11-01T11:07:31","modified_gmt":"2024-11-01T03:07:31","slug":"malaysia-budget-2013-lower-taxes-more-affordable-homes-cheaper-food-and-better-public-transport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nbc.com.my\/blog\/malaysia-budget-2013-lower-taxes-more-affordable-homes-cheaper-food-and-better-public-transport\/","title":{"rendered":"Malaysia Budget 2013: Lower taxes, more affordable homes, cheaper food and better public transport"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbc.com.my\/blog\/malaysia-budget-2013-lower-taxes-more-affordable-homes-cheaper-food-and-better-public-transport\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-3439\" title=\"home\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nbc.com.my\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/home.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"267\" height=\"189\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nbc.com.my\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/home.jpg 267w, https:\/\/www.nbc.com.my\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/home-105x74.jpg 105w, https:\/\/www.nbc.com.my\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/home-141x100.jpg 141w, https:\/\/www.nbc.com.my\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/home-24x16.jpg 24w, https:\/\/www.nbc.com.my\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/home-36x25.jpg 36w, https:\/\/www.nbc.com.my\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/home-48x33.jpg 48w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 267px) 100vw, 267px\" \/><\/a>PETALING JAYA: Lower taxes, more affordable homes, cheaper food and better public transport are among the items on the wish list from Malaysians for Budget 2013.<\/p>\n<p>The Finance Ministry received 84 memoranda from various groups, NGOs and individuals on proposals for the upcoming Budget as it started off its first of 18 focus group meetings last week.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p><strong>Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Donald Lim Siang Chai<\/strong>\u00a0said among the popular requests was for lower individual and corporate tax, which he said would be considered.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are looking at the tax structure along with the Goods and Services Tax (GST), which should come into effect soon,\u201d he said, adding that there were also requests for the Government to manage social problems caused by foreign workers.<\/p>\n<p>The Federation of Malaysian Consumers&#8217; Association (Fomca) highlighted five major issues in its memorandum.<\/p>\n<p>They were related to food prices, the public transport system, healthcare, trade competition and crime in urban areas.<\/p>\n<div style=\"display: block; float: left; margin: 8px 8px 8px 8px;\"><script type=\"text\/javascript\">\/\/ <![CDATA[\ngoogle_ad_client = \"ca-pub-0977930978369856\";\n\/* NBC Blog Content 300x250 *\/\ngoogle_ad_slot = \"6941255881\";\ngoogle_ad_width = 300;\ngoogle_ad_height = 250;\n\/\/ ]]><\/script><br \/>\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/show_ads.js\">\/\/ <![CDATA[\n\/\/ ]]><\/script><\/div>\n<p>\u201cTo combat rising food prices, we want the Government to invest more in the agricultural sector.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis will make us more self-sustainable and less dependent on imported foods,\u201d said Fomca chief executive officer\u00a0Datuk Paul Selvaraj.<\/p>\n<p>He said the consumer body also wanted better public transport subsidies, adding that it had proposed a subsidy scheme for public transport companies, based on schemes adopted by other countries.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Government should act as a regulator instead of getting involved directly,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>On healthcare, Fomca proposed that the current system be maintained as it was working well.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe hope the Government enforces the Competition Act 2012 to liberalise the market, so that prices will drop and consumers will benefit from trade competition,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>The Act prohibits anti-competitive agreements and the abuse of dominant positions in the market.<\/p>\n<p>He said crime was a key issue the Government needed to address, especially in the urban areas.<\/p>\n<p>Cuepacs\u00a0president Datuk Omar Osman\u00a0said the umbrella body for civil sector unions would submit its wish list by early next month.<\/p>\n<p>He said Cuepacs would also ask for cheaper homes and more incentives for civil servants.<\/p>\n<p>The Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF) said its primary concern was on the country&#8217;s tax structure.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCorporate tax in Malaysia, at its current rate of 25%, is still very high when compared with other countries in the region,\u201d said\u00a0executive director Shamsuddin Bardan.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are seeking a gradual reduction to at least 20%,\u201d he said, comparing it with Singapore&#8217;s corporate tax rate of 17%.<\/p>\n<p>On individual tax, he said, tax exemptions should not be capped at RM6,000 but based on the actual amount instead because this would encourage Malaysians to increase their EPF contributions.<\/p>\n<p>Shamsuddin said companies which hire retirees or retain employees beyond the retirement age should also be rewarded with tax benefits.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPeople should be encouraged to work for as long as they can as this will reduce our dependence on foreign workers,\u201d he said, adding that employed senior citizens should also be given a tax break.<\/p>\n<p>Source: TheStar (thestar.com.my)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>PETALING JAYA: Lower taxes, more affordable homes, cheaper food and better public transport are among the items on the wish list from Malaysians for Budget 2013. The Finance Ministry received 84 memoranda from various groups, NGOs and individuals on proposals for the upcoming Budget as it started off its first of 18 focus group meetings [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":3439,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[162],"tags":[140],"class_list":["post-3435","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-malaysia-tax-budget","tag-budget-2013-malaysia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nbc.com.my\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3435"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nbc.com.my\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nbc.com.my\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nbc.com.my\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nbc.com.my\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3435"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nbc.com.my\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3435\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6599,"href":"https:\/\/www.nbc.com.my\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3435\/revisions\/6599"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nbc.com.my\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3439"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nbc.com.my\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nbc.com.my\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nbc.com.my\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}