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| Mukhriz Mahathir |
PKR's Rafizi Ramli has again made a nonsensical and irresponsible statement regarding Approved Permits (AP) for the import of cars - intended specifically to confuse the rakyat, and create dissatisfaction towards the BN Government. He suggested at a press conference yesterday that taxpayers lose around RM3.5 billion annually through the country's practice of "giving out" APs without an open tender, adding that it can be used to bring down car prices instead.
What makes his statement mischievous is that while he says PR will slash excise duties and "the triple-tax burden" (what this consists is not explained) on cars if it comes to power, the practice of open tender will bring in extra revenues for the Government of up to RM50,000 for each car. How will selling APs to the highest bidder reduce prices for the consumer? Is he suggesting that the car sellers absorb that cost and not charge their customers for it? Wouldn't AP owners transfer the cost to car buyers if they were forced to pay this extra charge?
Also, how will his approach reduce prices for cars which under the current tax regime do not fetch excise duties and "the triple-tax burden" that total less than RM50,000?
Further insulting the rakyat's intelligence, he claims that the extra RM50,000 for each car that the Government doesn't charge for APs somehow "goes into the pockets of those who gain big profits due to the non-transparent policy of UMNO and Barisan Nasional". How does a non-existent payment enrich anyone?
It is clear that Rafizi is only doing what PR does best - and that is to confuse the rakyat so extensively that the issue becomes convoluted while their soundbites put the Government in bad light. PR's "turunkan harga kereta" campaign is an attempt to be seen populist whilst being vague on details and utterly irresponsible in intent. The objective of the BN Government's policy on the import of cars, on the other hand, is intended to develop a sustainable local automotive industry that also offers car prices that suits the affordability of the rakyat.
2 comments:
Please buy The Edge (this week edition). A good article by KJ answering and questioning PKR's motives. Page 82.
The point is PR making various promises, claims and "ideas" without explaining clearly how they are going to achieve this, and when they did explained how to do it, its either confusing or misleading, just like what Rafizi said.
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