Wan Saiful needled on Budget 2024's padi purchase floor price, targeted subsidies and taxes

SHAH ALAM - Tasek Gelugor Member of Parliament, Datuk Wan Saiful Wan Jan, has shared his initial thoughts on the Budget 2024, focusing on key issues: the padi purchase floor price, targeted subsidies, and taxes.

Wan Saiful believes that the current RM1,300 per tonne price offered to farmers is insufficient to cover rising input costs and suggests raising it to RM1,500 per tonne.

He underscored the importance of stabilizing rice prices to prevent further increases and enable targeted subsidies for those in need.

"This will enable farmers to operate more comfortably and ensure that the people are not burdened with the increase in the cost of living.

"Besides that, efforts to ensure a subsidy system reform that is more targeted is a good step. I hope the government will keep it as promised.

"I'm just worried because we've heard the rhetoric about this subsidy reform from the government since December 2022, but a meaningful implementation is still not visible," he wrote on Facebook today.

Nontheless, Wan Saiful was appreciative of the government's efforts to reform subsidies but expressed concern about the lack of visible progress.

Commenting on the just-announced Employees Provident Fund (EPF) Flexible Account, he hoped that such a mechanism would allow for easy withdrawals.

"If it means that contributors can make withdrawal at any time, then this is an initial success of the people demanding targeted EPF withdrawal, but if too many restrictions are imposed, then it does not achieve its goal," wrote Wan Saiful.

He also commended the tax exemption for social enterprises but hopes the government will support them in other ways too, possibly by creating a specific legal status for them.

"The tax exemption for social enterprises is a good step.

"I hope that the government's support for social enterprises in our country will not be limited to taxation only, but it rather explore the possibility of creating a specific legal status," he wrote.