PETALING JAYA: Jailed opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim today warned that Barisan Nasional (BN) will likely unveil new taxes or increase the existing goods and services tax (GST) if it wins in the coming general election (GE14).
He said this was because Budget 2018, unveiled last week by Prime Minister Najib Razak, failed to show how the government plans to balance revenue and expenditure.
“How will this government deliver on its many budget promises when it has not shown how it will increase revenue? This is not revealed anywhere in the budget.
“Therefore, there is only one obvious explanation: new taxes or increased and broadened GST will be imposed,” he said in a statement.
In the Dewan Rakyat last Friday, Najib presented what he called “the mother of all budgets”.
The RM280.25 billion budget was up 7.5% from this year’s allocated budget of RM260.8 billion.
Spending will include aid packages worth RM6.5 billion for farmers, fisherman and rubber tappers, the largest allocation yet for the groups who are among key voters for the BN coalition.
Najib also allocated RM6.5 billion for rural infrastructure development, and waived tolls from key highways in several cities. Big allocations were also made for road projects and schools.
Anwar said these promises were made “in a transparent effort to hoodwink the people into supporting BN” in GE14.
“The rakyat will have to dig deep into their pockets to enable BN to deliver their budget promises,” he added. -FMT
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