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TTF: Allegations that the government has been taxing petrol are false and baseless, says Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng (see news item below).
According to him, the federal government spent RM4.89 billion on petrol and diesel subsidies for the first 11 months of 2018, meaning, the Government of Malaysia (GoM) has indeed been subsidising petrol and not taxing us for the fuel as claimed by some quarters.
But that’s precisely what the Mahathir administration used to say back in the eighties and nineties.
Back then, the cunning old coot quietly taxed us on a number of commodities he claimed were subsidised, including petrol, which many a layperson believed was heavily subsidised by the GoM.
On the 22nd of March 2018, TTF posted (from another author):
Mahathir imposed a sales tax of 19.64 sen per liter for diesel and 58.62 sen per liter for petrol for much of the 22 years he was in charge.
That is right, Mahathir never subsidized petrol but taxed petrol instead as global prices of oil was much lower than at US$10 to US$20 per barrel for much of his time in charge compared to US$60 per barrel now.
This 58.62 sen petrol tax was only abolished in June 2004.
Tun Mahathir also did not subsidize rice, palm oil or sugar much during his time as there was simply no need as global prices for these commodities then was low.
Do a simple check on the historical global prices for these commodities during his time and see what I mean.
And this is the man Lim Guan Eng’s father, Lim Kit Siang, saw fit to be made Prime Minister.
On the 30th of December 2018, TTF wrote:
Actually, the review (on petrol prices by the GoM) was due to pressure by various quarters, including former premier Dato’ Seri Najib Tun Razak, who pointed out that the government had quietly been ‘taxing’ consumers by maintaining the price of petrol despite the dip in global fuel prices.
On the 22nd of December 2018, Malaysiakini wrote:
The Pakatan Harapan government has been imposing a fuel tax of 30 sen per litre on the rakyat since November, claims former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak.
“Yesterday, the Brent (crude oil) price was around US$52 per barrel.
“As a comparison, the Brent price when BN lost was US$73 per barrel and the price of RON95 was RM2.20 per litre.
“This means that since early last month, the Pakatan Harapan government has imposed a tax of RM0.30 per litre on RON95,” he said in a posting on his Facebook page today.
When the various quarters that exerted pressure on Guan Eng to reduce petrol prices began celebrating his announcement that prices would be reviewed, Mahathir stepped in and demanded that prices be maintained as the GoM could not be seen as subservient to the opposition.
That is typical of the Mahathir administration.
When singer-composer M Nasir criticised Mahathir in 1996, he was censured by RTM and TV3 and found it difficult to get jobs.
When a university Vice Chancellor questioned Mahathir’s authority in implementing a blanket ban on smoking in Institutions of Higher Learning, his contract was not renewed.
And today, despite having promised to reduce petrol prices on the 1st of January 2019, Guan Eng did a spectacular Rothman’s International U-Turn by announcing that prices couldn’t be reduced as our economic situation – which, thanks to Guan Eng himself, is pathetic – warrants serious attention from government.
Basically, Mahathir got pissed that the opposition treated Guan Eng’s announcement as proof that the GoM had quietly been taxing people.
PUTRAJAYA: The federal government spent RM4.89 billion on petrol and diesel subsidies for the first 11 months of 2018, said Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng today.
Refuting allegations that the government has been taxing petrol, he said the Pakatan Harapan Federal Government had neither profited from retail petrol pump prices nor imposed sales tax on RON95 or diesel.
“Total petrol and diesel subsidies for the first 11 months of 2018 amounted to RM4.89 billion and the Pakatan Harapan government has neither profited from retail petrol pump price nor imposed sales tax on RON95 or diesel.
“Allegations that the government has been taxing petrol are false and baseless.
“The simple truth is that the government did subsidise RON95 and diesel in November, albeit at a lower cost compared to the previous months,” he said.
Lim said the latest official records showed that in November 2018, the government had paid RM4.1 million for RON95 petrol subsidy.
Meanwhile for diesel fuel that was heavily used not only for commercial and industrial sectors but also by the public in Sabah and Sarawak, the Government paid RM209.1 million subsidy in November.
He also said that the current government was dedicated to transparency.
“If and when automated pricing mechanism (APM) prices drop further, the government will adjust the pricing downwards so that Malaysians will benefit from cheaper fuel prices,” he said.
He said as mentioned before, the government was implementing a floating mechanism this month where pump prices will fall on weekly basis if APM prices decreased further.
“If APM prices rise, the retail prices would be stabilised at the current fixed levels at RM2.20 per litre for RON95 and RM2.18 per litre for diesel,” he said.
Lim said once the government rolls out its targeted petrol subsidy programme before the end of the year, petrol and diesel will be floated freely based on market prices.
Source: NST Online
The reason petrol prices were not reviewed as promised https://t.co/OyAs3xHvDB
— Raggie Jessy Rithaudeen (@RaggieJessy) January 3, 2019