Foong Speaks Her Mind

WTF.

What the blardy hell is a cash rebate if it is taxable?

I don’t know, I think there is seriously something wrong with the Inland Revenue Board (IRB) CEO to even think that the RM625 could possibly be taxable. (Read the news from Star Online below)

As far as I know, only INCOME that we get from services rendered and goods sold are taxable. So, will someone please explain to me how this RM625 cash rebate had become an income? I am not an accountant so maybe I am too stupid and do not know that cash rebate and income are the same thing and that both are taxable.

Hmmm…oh yeah, I see the light now…

Since all of us have been royally arsed and farked upside down due to the petrol price hike by the BN government and then given this measly RM625 cash rebate as ‘compensation’…I guess that accounts for ’services rendered’ huh?

IRB to decide whether RM625 rebate is taxable

IPOH: The Government has yet to decide whether to tax the RM625 rebate a year given to owners of vehicles with engine capacity of up to 2,500cc.

Internal Revenue Board (IRB) chief executive officer Datuk Hasmah Abdullah said the board would discuss the matter with the Treasury.

Noting that the RM625 may push certain “borderline” taxpayers into a higher taxable income bracket, Hasmah said:

“To avoid confusion, we will come out with a ruling before next year’s filing of returns deadline.”

In June, the Government announced the rebate payout to private vehicle owners.For motorcycle owners with engine capacity of up to 250cc, the rebate is RM150.

Hasmah pointed out that the IRB would have to study Section 4 of the Income Tax Act, 1967, to determine if the car owners would be taxed.

Income derived out of services rendered and goods sold was taxable, she said yesterday after giving away prizes to winners of the state-level IRB’s public speaking competition for Form Six students here.

Technically, she said, the rebate did not fall into the definition of income and it was applied across the board.

At face value, it did not seem to relate to goods sold or services rendered, she said.

As for the lower income group, Hasmah said they would definitely not be affected, adding that the objective of the rebate was to relieve the burden on this group.

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I first saw the article ‘Iraq will sue oil-for-food suspects’ over at Malaysia Today and since the article quoted BBC, I went over to check the original article.

A previous related article which appeared in October 2005, was titled ‘Iraq scandal taints 2,000 firms’ which you can read in full here.  What is most interesting about the article are these paragraphs buried somewhere in the middle:

More than half of the 4,500 companies - from 60 countries - involved in the oil-for-food programme paid kickbacks or surcharges to the Iraqi government, Mr Volcker reported.

The single largest bribe came from a Malaysian trading company, Mastek, which paid Iraq $10bn over a prolonged period, the report found.

Other prominent names on the list include German manufacturing giant Siemens, the construction arm of the Swedish group Volvo and the German-US car firm Daimler Chrysler - which made relatively small payments, amounting to a few thousand dollars.

Wah, so this means, a Malaysian company is number one in giving bribe to the Iraqi government or indirectly to Saddam Hussein. Really Malaysia Boleh huh?

Wondering who is behind Mastek? And why that trading company has USD$10bil (that’s RM38bil based on exchange rates at that time) to give away at will?

Well, apparently the PM’s late wife’s sister is the president of Mastek. Need proof? Well you can go here to see for yourself.

Looks like Mastek is a damn rich company, huh? I mean, how many companies do you know can afford to give USD$10bil away just like that?

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When I read this piece of news in Malaysiakini here about the mid-term review of the 9MP by our extremely brilliant Prime Minister Abdulah Ahmad Badawi, I was not in the least surprised that the much hated PORR and the much talked about monorail project in Penang were left out.

The signs were all there. PORR has been in the pipeline for years and it kept getting postponed and they kept saying that ‘discussions are on the way’ and the agreement is ‘about to be signed’. But still, the agreement was never signed and the discussions never completed. So, it’s not a surprise that it was shelved.

Besides, I am sure many people, especially those in the anti-PORR group, will be overjoyed that it was shelved.

As for the monorail project, they have also been sitting on it for ages. Apparently still studying the proposals or whatever. So, no wonder that it too got shelved since from the beginning they were not so ‘into it’. Some quarters who are against it will also be happy that it was shelved. I am happy that our RM2bil was not wasted on another crony-company to build the project. But I am extremely pissed that the ever too brilliant Pak Lah said that they are concentrating on people-centric projects in this mid-term review of the 9MP. So, providing another avenue of public transportation for Penang is not people-centric?

Also (according to Malaysiakini) amongst the salient points of the review are:

Expansion of broadband infrastructure

“High-speed broadband infrastructure is necessary to facilitate the growth of a knowledge-based economy. Through public-private cooperation, the coverage of broadband infrastructure will be expanded with the aim of achieving 50 percent household penetrations by 2010.”

Wei, improve the blardy high speed broadband service first before spending billions on infrastructure because no point that we have high class, number one, first world infrastructure if the service, especially by Streamyx,  SUCKS!

Another point:

Public transportation improvement to be prioritised

“… The coverage of the urban rail transit system will be extended while more integrated public transportation terminals will be built. Furthermore, the efficiency of commuter train, bus and taxi services will be enhanced in order to reduce the usage of individual vehicles compared to the usage of public transport, particularly in the Klang Valley.

“To ensure that future development of the transportation sector will proceed in a smooth and orderly manner, the government will set up a Public Transportation Commission and draft a Transportation Master Plan.

“In order to address inadequate road coverage, especially in Sabah and Sarawak, rural road networks will be further extended. These efforts are expected to further encourage economic growth for areas in the interior.”

What an absolute dumb-ass! You left out the monorail project which is clearly a public transportation project and you have the nerve to say that public transportation will be improved????? “The coverage of the urban rail transit system will be extended” obviously does not include Penang!

Is it me or do I sense that there seems to be more ‘goodies’ for East Malaysia? Hmmm…they must be pretty worried about hopping frogs to resort to this type of ‘bribery’.

Another point which makes me wonder…

Climate change to be given due attention

“The government remains concerned over the effects of rapid development on the environment. Specifically, focus will be given towards efforts to continually improve air and water quality as well as initiatives to reduce contamination of water and land resources as a result of the illegal discharge of solid waste as well as toxic and hazardous substances.

“At the same time, the phenomenon of climate change will be given due attention. Focus will be given towards promoting energy efficiency and renewable energy, as well as in improving the public transportation system.

“Preventive measures such as flood mitigation programmes will also be implemented so as to ensure that the impact of climate change can be dealt with effectively.”

Somehow this rang hollow because I have not seen any ‘green’ policies by them like banning the use of the ‘white coffin’ or polystyrene containers which is highly detrimental to the environment. Heck I’ve seen they use it indiscriminately during government functions. And again the ‘improving on public transportation’ line.

WTF. Improve what public transportation? We only have RapidPenang for reliable bus service and they can’t cover everything. And let’s not even talk about our broad-daylight robbers aka taxi drivers here.

I do not even want to bother to read the rest of his salient points. I should have known better than to expect anything intelligent from this kampung pakcik.

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