Selangor refutes economist's 'shallow' remark on state's cost of living

The Selangor Menteri Besar's office has refuted a remark by an economist that the hike in property-related taxes and other costs has led to the rise in the cost of living in the state.

Economist Isham Jalil, who once served the Economic Planning Unit in the Prime Minister's Department, was quoted telling Bernama News Channel yesterday that the Selangor government's revenue had increased after it raised property-related taxes since the opposition took over the state government in 2008.

In a statement, the office's strategic communications director Yin Shao Loong said that the rise is instead caused by the removal of subsidies of several items, including cooking oil and petrol, as well as the fall of ringgit and the introduction of GST by the federal government.

"Thus, Isham's statement is shallow and mere assumptions.

"The Selangor government is concerned and is constantly working on lightening the economic burden of every household in the state, via the 'Peduli Rakyat' programme.

"Through the programme, the state government has exempted assessment fees of 790,443 kampung houses and low-cost houses (involving RM113 million), exempting business licence fees for 162,010 traders (RM19.3 million) since 2016, and charged only a nominal fee of RM1,000 for the ownership of residential land for 5,317 settlers in the state, who cannot afford to pay the premium," said Yin.

According to Yin, the state government has not increased its land tax tariffs in the last 14 years.

Yin also pointed to a recent household expenditure survey, which showed that people living in the BN-administered Federal Territories of Putrajaya and Kuala Lumpur were the ones who spent the most on monthly expenses, asked if this was also due to property-related costs in the Federal Territories.

"It is expected that next year, the people's cost of living will increase drastically, following the federal government's order for employers to foot foreign workers' levies, which is set to come into effect on Jan 1.

"This surely means that employers will 'transfer' the levy payment cost to the consumers, causing Malaysians' pocket sizes to shrink further," he said.- Mkini