Painful budget coming soon after tax holiday, says Najib

PETALING JAYA: Former prime minister Najib Razak says Pakatan Harapan’s three-month tax holiday and its scaling back of major projects are responsible for the financial problems faced by the government as it prepares its first budget since coming to power last May.

The former leader also suggested that he was not surprised with Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng’s admission that he would go down in history as the “most unpopular finance minister”.

“This is because the 2019 budget which will be tabled soon will scale back on various financial help for the people, or will impose new taxes using the excuse that the government needs to settle the RM1 trillion national debt which it fabricated,” Najib said in his latest Facebook post today.

He said in his nine years as prime minister, the Barisan Nasional government had never told the people to tighten their belt.

Najib said the government’s financial shortfall should be blamed on the three-month tax holiday after the goods and services tax (GST) was zero-rated, as well as the need to pay tax refunds following the move.

He said the cancellation of large-scale projects also affected the economy.

“But it is more convenient to point the finger at me and the former government with tales about the RM1 trillion debt,” he said.

MORE TO COME

-FMT