Malaysia's transport-related revenue, such as taxes and licensing fees, are more than enough to pay for its fuel subsidies, says PKR vice-president Rafizi Ramli.

Rafizi said the total revenue from these collections comes to RM17.3 billion, while fuel subsidies are RM13.7 billion for petrol and diesel.

"This means the narrative of BN that they have been so kind as if they had to take out money from their own pockets to make sure our fuel is so cheap is all BS, for the lack of a better word.

"(That is) because what they collect from us in the form of various car taxes, car duties, are more than enough to pay for the subsidies," Rafizi ( left ) told the Pakatan Rakyat Budget forum last night.

The transport-related revenue Rafizi tallied includes, among others, import duties on vehicles, spare parts, and tyres, excise duties on vehicles, sales tax on vehicles, licence and registrations fees, revenue from licence plate tenders and ownership transfer fees.

Also on the panel yesterday were Serdang MP Ong Kian Ming, Kelana Jaya MP Wong Chen, PAS Research Centre executive director Dzulkefly Ahmad and Institut Rakyat executive director Yin Shao Loong.

On Oct 3, Deputy Finance Minister Ahmad Maslan said the total fuel subsidies for 2014 amounted to around RM21 billion.

Rafizi told participants that he arrived at the figure of RM13.7 billion in fuel subsidies after asking the government for figures such as market price for fuel, fuel consumption, and subsidies paid at every parliamentary session for the past one-and-half years.

He claimed that he now has sufficient data to calculate the subsidies by himself based on crude oil prices and the controlled fuel price.

Working harder, but no increase in wages

Meanwhile, Yin, the director of the PKR-linked think tank, told the forum that Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's statement that the government hopes to increase the percentage of wages to 40 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2020 is “very unambitious”.

He pointed out that the growth rate for the proportion of GDP needed to reach the target is 8.7 percent per year, which is the same as the average rate of growth from 2008 to 2013.

"You know what that means? No change in policy. No change in political will. That is the fundamental problem.

"He (Najib, right ) is imposing the Goods and Services Tax (GST) on you, he is trying to get you take up more car loans, more housing loans, and at the same time he is promising to do no additional initiatives to increase your wages," he said.

Currently, he said 33.6 percent of Malaysia’s GDP goes to wages, compared to about 50 percent for most emerging economies, and 65 percent for advanced economies. The bulk of Malaysia's GDP (64 percent) goes to corporations.

 He said Pakatan is aiming for 50 percent of GDP for wages, which in turn would give people more money to spend and help business thrive.

To achieve this, he said Pakatan would follow Singapore in holding tripartite talks between employees and employers with the government playing the role of a mediator, while also giving more freedom to unions.

While some employers contend that productivity needs to increase first before wages can go up, Yin claimed that productivity has already increased but wages are not growing at the same rate.

"People are working harder, but they are not getting rewarded as much for it. It is not just in Malaysia, it is a worldwide phenomenon," he said.

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