For PSM, Budget 2022 a letdown and lacks punch
PSM has described the 2022 Budget proposed by Putrajaya yesterday as a letdown, saying that it lacks punch that many were hoping for.
"The Budget proposed this time around was done in cooperation with the opposition and thus we were hoping that it would be the best of both worlds.
PSM has described the 2022 Budget proposed by Putrajaya yesterday as a letdown, saying that it lacks punch that many were hoping for.
"The budget proposed this time around was done in cooperation with the opposition and thus we were hoping that it would be the best of both worlds.
"However, it was disappointing. It's like the new cabinet which has no wow factor. There was nothing outstanding," said PSM deputy chairperson S Arutchelvan in a statement in response to the Budget 2022 tabled by Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz yesterday.
The activist listed several points which he said were disappointing in the budget, including no mention of minimum wage.
"The healthcare sector only received a tiny increase in its budget, when many states are in need of a second government hospital to cater to the increasing number of patients," he said.
Arutchelvan was referring to the government's proposal to allocate a total of RM32.4 billion for the Health Ministry, which is an increase of 1.47 percent compared to the amount set aside for this year.
No capital gains tax
He said that while there are new taxes to be imposed, there was no plan to impose tax on capital gains.
"And how about those who have escaped from paying taxes to the country like what we saw in the Pandora Papers?
"Many rich people have gotten away from paying their taxes and this has not been addressed," Arutchelvan added.
He said PSM was happy with two things - the government's plan to provide a tablet to each student in higher learning institutions who come from the B40 (bottom 40 percent) family, and basic hygiene kits to 130,000 female teens from the B40 group.
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