After cars, Pakatan promise cheaper bikes

Malaysians too poor to even think of buying cars will benefit from Pakatan Rakyat' s plans to reduce excise duty for vehicles if it takes Putrajaya, even aiming to expand this to cover motorcycles.

"While even the working class in Malaysia look to buy cars, what is often overlooked is that there are those who can only afford to depend on motorcycles for transportation," PKR strategy director Rafizi Ramli (right in photo) told a press conference in Petaling Jaya today.

He lamented the BN-led federal government's "regressive" tax system which, he said, taxes the bottom rungs of society more than the cream of the economic crop.

Rafizi explained that the 20-30 percent excise duty on motorcycles - depending on engine size - has burdened those less affluent.

It has also inflated the cost of motorcycles and forced buyers to service loans obtained from dealers at an exorbitant interest, since banks generally do not provide finance for such purchases.

In line with Pakatan’s plans to reduce car excise duty, Rafizi said the coalition will look at an annual phased reduction of 20 percent excise charge for motorcycles, with the tax to be abolished after five years.

The shortfall in revenue will be offset by direct government auction of approved permits (APs) to import foreign cars.

"The impact on government finances will be minimal as we will work to balance the shortfall and cushion the impact by spreading it out over the five years," reasoned Rafizi.

Pakatan had announced plans to directly auction APs for imported cars to increase government revenue and gradually reduce and then abolish excise duty to provide cheaper cars, among other proposals if it wins Putrajaya.

'Incentivise anti-graft fight'

Industry and Trade Bureau chairperson Wong Chen announced a PKR plan to "incentivise" the fight against corruption and wastage in government if Pakatan comes to power.

"I am impressed with the civil service, (specifically) the Inland Revenue Board (IRB), which we had studied - how they significantly increased tax (collection) last year," Wong said at the same event.

He related that the secret to IRB's success has been to give performance bonuses to collection officers, giving them a higher bonus if they collect more tax revenue.

The same system, Wong said. can be used to "buy in" the support of the civil service to become agents of change in reporting or taking action to reduce wastage and corruption.

Rafizi noted that this would give civil servants ownership of the programme to make the government more efficient. The savings can then be used to reward them. 

"It is about breaking down the culture of corruption and building up a cultury of integrity," he added.