Dear Mr Prime Minister,

I am looking forward to a new budget that is truly ‘rakyat’-friendly with an honest-to-goodness ‘People First’ approach. To do this, the government has to really think out-of-the-box with drastic yet creative measures to achieve such a proposal.

Move away from traditional planning of budgets to create a win-win strategy for the Malaysian people at large so that they can see where and how their money is benefitting the nation as a whole.

Below are some of my personal initial ideas for consideration:

1. National ‘Community Chest’ Charity Fund - to be created and the collections specifically channeled towards community and charitable projects that will be professionally-managed for all Malaysians

• Impose 1% charity tax for companies on top of the annual corporate tax

• Impose 5% surcharge charity tax for all those categorised as ‘sin’ products such as liquor, cigarettes etc

2. Personal income tax rebate – to give tax relief for certain expenses that are directly linked to the nation-building development of Malaysia undertaken directly by the people

• Rebate of up to 50% on the annual fees for private education (primary right up to university)

• Rebate of up to 100% on the annual charges for broadband services at the main home

• Rebate allocation (fixed) for support of arts and culture – to encourage the growth of local arts and culture

• No income tax for ‘professional’ sportsmen and sportswomen accredited by the government. These are those who dedicate their lives to the development of sports in the country and have recognised victories in their full-time field of sports with their sole income derived from sports.

3. Approved Permits, car import duties and road tax – revamp the current system of very high import duties and tiered annual road tax and create only three categories of cars (budget, standard and luxury). Such measures will result in government earning more income while consumers will benefit from cheaper cars

• Reduce import duties based on the new format for new and imported used cars (standard and luxury) by 50% but for budget cars, reduce import duties by 80%

• Abolish the ‘Approved Permit’ system and introduce a ‘registration tax’ payable to the government upon the initial registration of cars and subsequently, a greatly reduced rate of this tax for the onward sale of the said vehicle to the next buyers.

For example, if the current AP market price attached to every imported car is RM50,000 (government gets zero income), then this proposed registration tax can be, for example, RM15,000 payable directly to the government.

Subsequently, if this same car is sold to another buyer (depending on the number of years after the first registration), a reduced rate of, for example, RM5,000 (if less than 5 years) and RM2,000 (if more than 5 years) can be imposed on the subsequent registration (second-hand sale)

• Impose a one off ‘special luxury tax’ for luxury cars (it is proposed that any car above 3,000cc and a selling price of at least ‘X dollars’ based on an international rate card be considered as luxury (the government can decide on a list)

• To protect the national car industry, the government can give direct incentives to the people to buy a Proton or a Perodua by abolishing road tax for national cars (and 100% rebate on road tax for a non-national car if the same household owns a national car as well) as well as a 50% insurance rate, preferred financing rates etc

• Impose a one-rate annual road tax for the abovementioned three categories of cars ie, RM150, RM500 and RM1,000 respectively

• Reduce basic insurance rates for all cars

4. ‘One Malaysia’ Education Loan Scheme – the government to establish a new scholarship and education loan scheme for all Malaysians through a fund that is contributed by the private sector

• Corporations that contribute more than RM ‘X’ of annual tax to the government will be given a high tax rebate for an annual endowment contribution to this proposed education loan fund.

Hence, the disbursement of their own scholarships by some of these companies can now be centralised and professionally administered.

• If 100 qualified companies contribute an average of RM10 million per annum, this fund will have RM1 billion per annum worth of education loans and scholarships for all Malaysians

• This fund will be an extension of the existing PTPTN loan scheme for local IPTA/IPTS but will be managed independently and professionally with a focus on special courses and quality internationally-recognised and accredited education

• Applicants will be selected purely based on merit (there will be a flexible age limit) and there will be successful targeted university placements

• This loan scheme to offer below market interest rates with interest, part principal or full principal waivers on offer depending on results with long term vs short term repayment incentives

5. Adopting Green Technology incentives – the government to strongly encourage the adoption of green technology by both the public and private sectors by giving financial incentives for the creation of ‘green’ projects and activities

• Establish an express grant fund for private initiatives embarking on unique ‘green’ efforts

• Free tax period for companies embarking on green technology-related efforts as a core business

• Special interest rebate offered by financial institutions (subsidised by government) for borrowings on projects that incorporate accredited green technology inputs for direct green benefits.