Budget 2024 will continue to put pressure on middle class - Syed Saddiq
KUALA LUMPUR - Muda president Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman said Budget 2024 will continue to put pressure on the middle class, which is the majority of Malaysians.
He said this was mainly due to the reduction of subsidies and the increase of taxes.
"After hearing the presentation of Budget 2024, I would like to give a summary and view.
"This budget will continue to put pressure on the middle class which is the majority of Malaysians.
"We have to remember four things which are the people's subsidy being reduced, the people's tax being increased from six to eight per cent, waste are to continue and promises being forgotten. These are my four main thrusts today," Syed Saddiq said in a press conference in Parliament today.
Syed Saddiq opined that the sales and service tax (SST) increase of two per cent is not a small amount and will have an impact on businesses and consumers.
“Why I say GST is disguised as SST is because previously, the government insisted that it didn’t want (to reintroduce) GST because there is a deficit of eight to nine billion where if you implement SST, you won’t get as much money as GST.
“So because they don’t want to reintroduce GST, they increase the SST rate," he said.
Syed Saddiq also slammed the government's decision to continue with additional expenses for ministerial vehicles.
"Previously, the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government, who was in power in 2021 and 2022 was slammed for their additional expenses for the purchase of a new Vellfire car but now everything seems fine," he said.
Syed Saddiq also spoke about students' struggles to repay their National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN) loans.
"I am sure young people will not forget the PTPTN's promises where repayment will only be made when the graduate student's salary scale reaches a dignified salary but the repayment has been reduced to fifty per cent.
"Repayment will only start when the salary scale is high, this is what the previous government did last time and they can't seem to continue this time," he said.
However, Syed Saddiq lauded the Finance Ministry's move on tax exemption for sports tax equipment which is increased to RM1000.
He also praised and supported the reduction on entertainment tax, which he said could bring many foreign artists to perform in Malaysia in the future.
"The reduction of the entertainment will also push many foreign artists to come to Malaysia even if it is given to focus on the local industry which I support 100 per cent," he said.
