SIBU: The newly announced economic recovery package of RM35 billion on top of the previous economic stimulus packages totalling RM260 billion generally looks good but has fallen short in areas that really matter.
In pointing this out, Parti Bumi Kenyalang secretary-general Priscilla Lau, said on Saturday that as the reintroduction of the Home Ownership Campaign was to assist people to be homeowners, it should also cover all sales and purchases of homes regardless of whether they were from developers or not.
“The developers should not be compelled to give a discount before qualifying for the incentive as they are also facing the same hardship as the rest of the economy and are an essential part to the recovery process of our housing industry.
“Therefore, greater steps should be made to assist them especially as so many have already constructed the houses before the MCO and these houses have been sitting there incurring losses through borrowing interest rates and continual payment of salaries,” she said.
Lau said the government should also do away with minimum purchase price because prospective owners of cheaper homes should be encouraged and not excluded from this incentive.
“The stamp duty exemption incentive should also extend to all transfers of ownerships and loans submitted from June 1, 2020 till May 31, 2021 regardless of the dates of purchases because all have faced the economic downturn due to the MCO,” she suggested.
Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyddin Yassin in inveiling the Short-term Economi Recovery Plan on Friday said the home ownership campaign covered various incentives including stamp duty exemptions for the purchase of homes costing between RM300,000 and RM2.5 million from June 1, 2020 to May 31, 2021 with a provision that the developer should give a discount of at least 10 percent.
Furthermore, there are further qualifications that full stamp duty exemptions are only for the first RM1 million whilst stamp duty will be fully waived for the loan for purchases of homes between RM300,000 and RM2.5 million.
Touching on the automotive industry, Lau said the waiver and partial waiver of the Sales Tax for locally assembled cars and imported cars respectively was a good start but it was only relieving a small percentage of the real burden for car buyers.
“The government is encouraged to do away with the exorbitant excise duty of between 75 percent to 105 percent on cars. There is also import duty of 10 percent to 30 percent which is payable together with the GST/SST of the day,” she said.
Lau pointed out that as the state transport infrastructure made it essential for each family to at least have one car in order to go to work, therefore waving fully or partially the Sales Tax on cars would not make much of a difference to the whole economy.
Another immediate hardship that the people were facing was the imminent loom of the payment of Individual tax by August 31, 2020, she said.
She added the government should also exempt those earning less than RM10,000 per month from taxes for the Years 2019 and 2020.
The move, she said, was to help the economy revive through an increase in the spending power of the people.
Lau also called on the government to be more transparent in its account.
“Overall, a huge amount of financial incentives/stimulus have been announced in the last 3 months, totalling RM295 billion. Government financial output has greatly surpassed its financial input. Where and how the government is financing this huge deficit is anyone’s guess. However, a duty is definitely owed to the people as to where and how this RM295 billion is spent. There should be full transparency of accounts,” she said.
