We refer to the letter Penalise ministers instead of credit card tax .

The proposal for the imposition of an additional RM50 in credit card charges in the recently announced Budget 2010 strengthens the need for taken by the public to prevent them common from being be penalised further by an economy which is increasingly favouring the rich.

Banks have now become the bastions of a cruel form of capitalism, charging extortionate rates for services and then relying on the common man to bail them out whenever they get into a financial crisis - which was in the first place caused by their own greed and disregard for the rights of society.

This additional charge of RM50 imposed by the government for credit cards is obviously a burden to customers.

Credit cards are largely used by the average workers who have to compensate for their low wages which are driving millions of Malaysians to live on credit. If, as is now being touted, the next crisis turns out to be a debt crisis, we can expect many people to be bankrupts further extending the chasm between the rich and the poor.

This will only serve to divide society and is certainly not sustainable.

The government should encourage private sector employers to pay decent living wages to their own workers and introduce a Cost of Living Allowance which should be flexible to meet the constant rise in the standard of living of all Malaysians.

The ‘1Malaysia’ concept can only be a reality if there is no discrimination against the millions of workers who are now currently deprived of decent wages and their Cost of Living Allowance.

The government should not discriminate against private sector workers when compared to those in the public sector.

The nine million private sector workers need to live decent lives with decent salaries and eventually they will be also willing to pay their tax from their salaries.

The writer is general-secretary, National Union of Bank Employees (Nube).