Nope, still a net benefit actually in terms of deficits, because even with corruption and leakage of say 90%, 10% still goes to do useful work, i.e. reducing deficits. But of course that's assuming that they won't use it as an excuse to gorge more, which I think Najib's somewhat starting to do, but we'll have to see. At least it serves to piss people like you off not to vote BN, and hopefully others too Also, like it or not, our government deficit is getting a little out of hand now, and has led to credit agency downgrades, which then make the debt more expensive, etc, etc... . With oil revenues projected to dwindle I'm not surprised that Najib's starting to introduce these taxes early to make the shock seem less bad. Sure he could start by cutting down on corruption and leakage but we all know it's a snowball's chance in hell with that route, and I very much rather higher taxes and showing transparently to Malaysians the cost of corruption and the leakages hidden in the system for the past 3 decades or so which finally cannot be covered by the oil revenue, and finally showing them an explicit choice between BN and PR, than let them pretend it's all hunky dory, keeping taxes low until Najib's hand is forced.
Actually, for all the cover-ups, corruption gets exposed by the Auditor-General year in, year out. It has all been reported transparently, to the point that some BN politicians are demanding that the reports be kept secret so as not to embarrass the government. So, evidence of corruption has been revealed transparently to the public EVERY year. But because no action is taken, such transparency is pointless. Yes, we can see where the money is leaking, but no one is doing a damn thing about it. So it is not a matter of just being transparent... but also doing something about it. Yes, more tax will cut down on the deficit and improve ratings. But how much can you increase in taxes before the common people revolts? Let's not forget that our purchasing power is weak, and many Malaysians earn less than RM 1,000 (US$ 285) a month. If it wasn't for subsidies, many poor Malaysians would not be able to survive on the pittance they get each month. I'd say that Najib needs to fix the leakages instead of just trying to raise peanuts through stupid ideas like RM 50 charges on credit cards. How much can he make? If he just plugs 10% of the leakage that occurs EVERY YEAR, he would save the government a few billion ringgit each year.
